Corporate and Social Responsibility

The Bel Groupe is a major international food company and a business that is largely family-owned. This makeup significantly influences our values and the way we define our Corporate and Social Responsibility Programme. We aim to ensure the programme contributes positively to the community in which we live and work, and also reduces our environmental impact on the planet. As a signatory to the UN World Pact, which establishes 10 principles related to human rights, working conditions, anti-corruption and environmental protection, the Bel Groupe fully assumes its responsibility as a corporate citizen.

These are just some of our charitable initiatives in the UK:

Payroll Giving

Bel UK has been awarded the Government Gold Quality Mark for its "recession- busting" Workplace Giving scheme.

Despite the doom and gloom of the economic climate, employees at Bel UK have bucked the trend as more of them are giving to the charities and causes closest to their hearts, straight from their pay. Payroll giving - sometimes known as Give as You Earn - is a tax-efficient way of supporting individuals' preferred charities and is another means by which Bel UK 's employees contribute to the community.

Walking Bus

In accordance with our approach to healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle, Bel UK is a sponsor of the ‘Walking Bus in Kent’ scheme. The scheme encourages children to walk some, or all of the way, to school. Not only is this a great way to get active, as part of a daily routine, it also takes an estimated 150,000 car journeys off Kent’s roads every day.

To find out more about Walking Bus in Kent visit: www.kmwalktoschool.co.uk.

FareShare

We support FareShare, the charity supporting communities to relieve food poverty in the UK. Bel UK provides FareShare with surplus ‘fit for purpose’ cheese which is distributed to organisations working with disadvantaged people in the community.

To find out more about FareShare visit: www.fareshare.org.uk.

Bel Corporate abroad:

Further afield, the Bel Corporate Foundation supports educational projects promoting and safeguarding the well-being of children all around the world. Through financial aid, it focuses on projects which facilitate good food supply, promotes better eating habits and environmental conservation.

One such project is SOS Villages d’Enfants. This scheme helps to finance a nutritional and educational program for children and young mothers in Madagascar. Here, maternal mortality remains high, the health of young mothers is extremely worrying and 45% of children under three years of age suffer from chronic malnutrition.

The programme predominately aims to prevent the onset of malnutrition among children under five and to keep pregnant women, young mothers and infants in good health.

To find out more about SOS Villages d'Enfants visit: http://www.sosve.org.

Click here to find out more about the Bel Corporate Foundation.