Touton cocoa group seeks to raise its performance bar with its pact standard
Pic: Touton
French-headquartered cocoa business, Touton, has unveiled a key strategic move in launching its Pact Standard, a verified responsible sourcing system designed to create traceable, transparent, and sustainable supply chains for cocoa, coffee, vanilla, and other major ingredients, writes Neill Barston.
The company, which has remained active in serving the confectionery sector through its cocoa supplies, has previously been a signatory of environmental measures including the Cococa and Forests Initiative (CFI), and has asserted that it is seeking to enhance its performance within the sector.
Its latest move builds on 175 years of experience, with Touton developing its latest pact to proactively address the specific social, environmental, and economic challenges of tropical commodity value chains. This novel standard is a testament to the group’s commitment to sustainability and its vision of the Positive Agri Culture in a rapidly evolving agri-food sector.
The company explained to Confectionery Production that its latest system is the result of over 20 years of learning and testing customised, grassroots solutions to responsibly source a wide array of products across tropical-producing countries, ranging from cocoa beans to green arabica and robusta coffee, vanilla.
Joseph Larrose, Deputy Managing Director, Touton group commented: “Pact Standard is the instrument that allows us to efficiently operationalise our sustainability vision, the Positive Agri Culture by Touton or Pact, into our sourcing activities. A vision rooted in the deep understanding, mutual respect, and enduring trust with producers.
“We understand and manage supply chains. Every year, over 100 000 producers engage with our sustainability programmes across various countries and products. I am proud of the collaborative effort that has culminated in Pact, reflecting our shared aspirations and hands-on experience.”
Acting as a true link between growers and processors, the combined expertise of Touton’s Trading, Sustainability, Monitoring & Evaluation teams, and sourcing partners across 15 producing countries originated Pact as a solid framework to generate a lasting positive impact on both farming communities and consumers.
With over 120+ built-in verification points, the new framework aligns with multiple certification criteria and is compliant with European and international regulatory requirements. PACT STANDARD-based programmes are audited annually by an independent third party and recognised by the Global Coffee Platform (GCP) as equivalent to the Coffee Sustainability Reference Code, 2nd party assurance.
Built on three core pillars and one cross-cutting pillar, each addressing specific areas of intervention to deliver impact at every level, PACT STANDARD offers a human-centric approach and bespoke programmes based on the know-how of our 200+ dedicated staff: Collaborative systems: To establish systems that proficiently manage risks and responsibilities to ensure traceability and transparency throughout the supply chain. Inclusive Growth: To generate added value and equal opportunities by facilitating access to financial, structural and knowledge resources. Smart Ecosystems: To build climate-smart farming ecosystems that safeguard forests, biodiversity, and efficiently manage natural resources.
Social Positive: To foster empowerment and well-being among producers and communities.
