Sustainability
More than 100 years after Richard Hellmann opened his Deli in New York, we continue to use “Blue Ribbon Quality” ingredients to bring out the best in our mayo, sauces and dressings. We are committed to sourcing our ingredients from sustainable sources because we know that we need to make products that not only taste good, but do good for our customers and our planet.
Since January 2017, all Hellmann’s Mayonnaise Dressing (excluding Vegan Carefully Crafted Dressing) available in the U.S. are made exclusively from cage-free eggs
We’re proud that we reached this goal of using 100% cage-free eggs 3 years early, and so are the independent third parties that certify our eggs, including the American Humane Association™ and the Association For Controlled Alternative Animal Husbandry. Lids off to everyone who helped to make that happen, including our producers whose care and handling of egg-laying hens meet animal-welfare standards.
SUSTAINABLY SOURCED OILS:
We are on our way to sourcing 100% of our oils responsibly across our tasty line of mayos, dressings and sandwich spreads. Our Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise is already there! Hellmann’s® proudly works with American family farms. As part of our responsible sourcing efforts, we’re engaging responsible soybean farmers in Iowa together with Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture to continuously improve the sustainability of their farms in the following areas: land use, conservation, soil carbon, irrigation water use, water quality, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Cage-free eggs come from hens that live indoors, but are not confined to cages. They can move about and perform basic natural behaviors, like spread their wings, dust-bathe, roost, scratch and lay their eggs in nests. It’s a significantly better life. Learn more about сage-free eggs.
The American Humane Certified™ program verifies that certified producers’ care and handling of farm animals is humane and meets the animal welfare standards of the American Humane Association. These standards are based upon values known as the "Five Freedoms": freedom from hunger or thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury or disease, freedom to express normal behavior and freedom from fear or distress. Learn more about the American Humane Certified™ program.
The Association for Controlled Alternative Animal Husbandry (KAT) is the inspection body in Germany and neighboring EU countries for the inspection of eggs from various forms of hen rearing including barn rearing. All eggs that Hellmann's® imports from Europe are KAT certified and adhere to Hellmann's® standards for cage-free eggs. Learn more about this topic.
Sustainably sourced agriculture means growing food in ways that sustain the soil, minimize water and fertilizer use, protect biodiversity and enhance farmers’ livelihoods. When we began working on this issue over 15 years ago, there were no agreed definitions of what sustainable farming meant. So we pioneered our Sustainable Agriculture Program.
Our program requires suppliers to adhere to our Sustainable Agriculture Code through self-assessment and verification, or through external certification standards that meet or exceed our own standards.
- The basis for the Unilever sustainable sourcing program is the Unilever Sustainable Agriculture Code (SAC). The Code defines sustainable agriculture by providing guidelines referring to the following 11 topics: agrochemicals and fuels; soils; water; biodiversity; energy; waste; social and human capital; animal welfare; value chain and local economy; continuous improvement and metrics.
- The suppliers and farmers behind Hellmann’s ingredients become Unilever verified as sustainable sourcing partner when they are compliant with either:
1. The principles of Unilever SAC. .
2. Third party certification standards formally recognized by Unilever as compliant with our internal principles and practices of sustainable agriculture.
As one of Unilever’s top brands, Hellmann's® is actively working with Field to Market to engage 150 growers in measuring continuous improvement of outcomes-based metrics for 170,000 acres of soybeans. This organization brings together U.S. producers, agribusinesses, food companies and conservation organizations to create sustainable outcomes in U.S. commodity agriculture. Learn more about this topic.
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