Food & Products

Sustainable Seafood

Sustainability of wild-caught fish and the environmental impacts of farm-raised fish are topics that are important to our customers and our seafood buyers. At Kroger, we recognize the importance of responsibly sourced seafood and are taking steps to ensure that the variety of fish we enjoy today is also available for future generations.

In 2009, Kroger began a partnership with the World Wildlife Fund. This partnership and the resulting assessment work help us make determinations about which source fisheries are already sustainable. At Kroger, our goal is to source 100% of our top 20 wild-caught species from fisheries that are Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified, in MSC full assessment, or engaged in a WWF fishery improvement project by the year 2015.

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The Kroger family of stores offers customers thousands of natural, organic and eco-friendly products. As customers’ interest in buying products with a more positive impact on our planet continues to grow, we will continue to provide the choices they prefer for themselves, their families and their homes.

We are especially proud that many customers shop in our stores due to our exclusive, wide variety of natural and organic products offered through our Naturally Preferred®, Private Selection® Organic, and Comforts For Baby® "Touch of Nature" brands.

Our Brands:

• Kroger’s Naturally Preferred® line is our own brand of premium-quality natural and organic products. These products are minimally processed and contain no artificial colors, preservatives or flavors. Many of these products also contain ingredients that are certified organically grown and free of herbicides and pesticides.
• Our Private Selection® Organic is our USDA certified organic line of products. These items can be found alongside non-organic items throughout our stores and allows customers to easily compare products within the same department.
• Comforts For Baby® "Touch of Nature" These diapers are made from chlorine-free pulp, contain a unique bio-based absorbent material and have an inner liner and outer cover made from renewable resources.

Kroger values transparency and we will continue to inform our customers about seafood sustainability as well as improve and promote it. If you would like to learn more about our seafood sustainability policy, please visit our website.

Food safety is Kroger’s top priority. We want to ensure our customers can count on wholesome, fresh, and safe food from farm to table. Therefore, we have well-established, science-based practices in place to ensure that the food items sold in our stores are prepared and handled safely. Our excellent Food Safety team continues to develop and maintain programs to address emerging food safety topics.

Retail Stores

Audits

Kroger conducts a bi-monthly food safety review (FSR) audit of each store. These audits are conducted by third-party firms and augment inspections conducted by local health departments and Company associates. Last year Kroger conducted 14,753 food safety reviews and followed up on results to resolve any issues that were identified.

Kroger monitors food safety audit results with the same rigor as financial results. We use these audit results to consistently monitor our store operations and to understand and correct non-compliance with our own standards and those of governmental agencies.

Training & Certification

In 2010, we provided food-safety training to nearly 27,000 hourly associates. Associates working in our perishable foods department are required to complete a training module on food safety and to pass tests based on that material.

Store managers must take an eight-hour course in food safety and pass the Certified Food Safety Manager (CFSM) test, a nationally accepted certification requirement. Our co-managers are also required to obtain this certification during their training. Nearly 2,600 store managers and co-managers earned this certification last year.

Temperature

Temperature is a crucial component of safe food handling. We maintain temperature logs to ensure all perishable foods are stored at the proper temperature. In fact, we monitor temperatures every four hours for cold foods and every two hours for hot foods. Store managers review these temperature logs routinely and during our bi-monthly FSR audits.

Kroger has an unwavering commitment to responsible business practices, including the humane treatment of animals from farm to table. We know that animal welfare is important to our customers as well and they can count on us to foster improved animal welfare standards. While Kroger does not operate any farms or animal processing facilities, we are continuing to provide leadership on this important topic within the retail grocery industry.

Specifically, we require our suppliers to meet or exceed the Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI) Animal Welfare standards. We also convened a panel of animal science experts in 2008 to help us make recommendations on how we can work with the industry to improve animal welfare.

These experts meet at least once annually to review our suppliers’ compliance with the FMI’s Animal Welfare standards. When the audits fall below acceptable norms, our Regulatory Compliance Team reviews the audits with our vendors to determine improvement steps. We continue to push the vendor community to embrace new best practices in animal welfare. Through our internal team and panel of experts, Kroger continues to take an active role in facilitating an industry approach to producing sustainable and comprehensive improvements in animal welfare standards.

While there are many aspects to animal welfare, two have been highlighted recently: cage-free eggs and a processing method for poultry known as CAS, or Controlled Atmosphere Stunning. We are committed to increasing our sales of cage-free eggs based on two factors: customer demand and available supply. In almost all of our stores, we offer a variety of cage-free egg products, including our own Naturally Preferred® and Private Selection® brands.

To learn more about Kroger’s work on animal welfare, please view/download the full report here.

Sustainability Matters

Fred Meyer and Littman Jewelers are proud to share some of the most special moments in our customers’ lives. Because of this close bond, we recognize the need to operate our business responsibly to the highest ethical standards. Anything less would fall short of our customers’ high expectations.

The Responsible Jewelry Council

Fred Meyer and Littman Jewelers are now certified members of the Responsible Jewelry Council (RJC). In fact, Fred Meyer Jewelers was the first U.S.-based retailer to achieve this distinction. The RJC is a non-profit organization recognized as a world leader in protecting consumer confidence in the jewelry industry. It verifies that members operate with responsible ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices.

PAWSitively Yours Collection

In 2010, Fred Meyer Jewelers and Littman Jewelers partnered with The Humane Society of the United States on a new line of jewelry that enabled our customers to express the love they share with their pets. For every item purchased from the collection, $3 was donated directly to the Humane Society. While our Pawsutively Yours collection did not debut until September, the line resulted in a 2010 donation of over $30,000.