Sustainability

Felix sauces are produced in different factories. Regardless of their location, they share a common ambition – to reduce pressure on the environment. We carefully monitor energy and water use and ensure that raw materials are not wasted in the process. We’re making an effort to ensure that an increasing share of the energy used by the factories (both electricity and heating) comes from renewable sources.
Yet the environmental impact of Felix sauces is by no means limited to just the factories that produce them. How the raw materials are grown and what happens to the sauces after they leave our factory is also very important.
We assess all our suppliers not only from a food safety but also from a sustainability perspective, and we expect them to comply with Orkla’s Code of Conduct for Suppliers, which covers the rights of workers, occupational health and safety, as well as environmental, fair business and corporate governance principles.

It’s particularly important that all the sauces produced actually end up on the table of our clients. Otherwise, the burden of production and growing raw materials on the environment would be wasted. In order to make sure that people always use up the sauces, we make sure that packaging sizes match actual consumption patterns and that packaging protects sauces from external conditions and thus preserves them for longer.

Who needs life on our planet to continue to be worth living? People, of course. That’s why it’s also extremely important to protect people and their health. As we develop our products, we aim to maximise the health benefits of our sources and make sure consumption takes into account individual needs.

We place great emphasis on clear and easy-to-read labelling in order to facilitate making informed choices.

It’s well known that people in Estonia tend to consume too much salt, sugar and saturated fatty acids, which is why we monitor their content in our products with special attention. That’s why we offer both ketchup without added sugar and ketchup with reduced salt and sugar. In addition to classic mayonnaise, we also have a light mayonnaise with only 3% fat.
All Felix sauces are suitable for vegetarians and many are also suitable for vegans.

As we consider people with allergies and food intolerances, we avoid bringing new allergens into our factories. Even microscopic contact with an allergen can be dangerous for an allergic person – even if the ingredients containing allergens are not used in the product itself, they may be present in another product made on the same production equipment. That’s why we make sure that this information is accessible to consumers and easy to find. We clearly highlight the allergens contained in the product on the packaging using a different font. Allergens that may be present in the product as a result of contact with other products are highlighted at the end of the list of ingredients with the phrase “may contain trace amounts”. In order to ensure correct labelling, we thoroughly evaluate all the raw materials used in the product, their composition and the entire production process from start to finish.

All Felix sauces are produced in factories that are regularly checked to ensure they meet strict quality standards.
During the development phase, all products undergo a thorough risk assessment to identify and eliminate any potential risks associated with the packaging, the ingredients or the use of the product.
We also carefully select and check our raw material and packaging suppliers to make sure they are as committed to food safety as we are.

It’s important that the sauces are stored under the right conditions to ensure safety and the expiry date indicated on the packaging. They mostly need a cool temperature, so they should be kept in the fridge. Consumer input is also needed here. We always make this information clear on the labelling of our products so that it’s easier for consumers to follow.

It’s essential that the packaging protects the product well from the outside conditions and thus ensures the quality and safety of the product throughout its shelf life. If packaging were to fail in this function, it would lead to food wastage, which is an unnecessary burden on the environment. Food is responsible for nearly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also well known that about a third of the food produced is never eaten by a human, but is simply thrown away. Packaging plays an important role in the fight against food waste.
However, this doesn’t mean that the environmental impact of the packaging itself should be ignored.

We’ve set ourselves the goal that the packaging of all of our products will be recyclable by 2025. This means that they can be reprocessed and reused as materials. In this way, we reduce the need for new materials. In order to ensure that it actually works, it’s important that the whole chain from the production of packaging material to its reprocessing and reuse is controlled. There are many different parties in this process, all of whom have to play their part in setting the stage for the next link in the chain to play its role.

It’s very important that we as consumers and as members of society always sort empty packaging into a suitable bin – cardboard and paper packaging, glass packaging or mixed packaging. Most Felix sauces are in glass packaging. It’s responsible to put them in a glass bin, as this ensures that glass fragments, which are very difficult to sort out from other packaging, are not sent to recycling as well.

We’re also constantly looking for new ways to rely more and more on recycled materials for packaging.

Orkla Eesti AS is a member of the recycling centre Eesti Taaskasutusorganisatsioon (ETO). Through ETO, we are one of the shareholders of RP Pakend OÜ. This nonprofit organisation collects, sorts, recycles and resells packaging waste for recycling. Packaging bins have been installed at public collection points for this purpose, where each consumer can take their packaging. They are collected, sorted and later recycled.

We assess all our raw material suppliers not only from a food safety but also from a sustainability perspective and expect them to comply with Orkla’s Code of Conduct for Suppliers.

We are a big employer and we care about the well-being of our employees. They too must endure! We take responsibility for the health and safety of our employees and ensure that everyone’s human rights – freedom of expression, freedom of organisation and the right to fair working conditions – are respected. We carry out in-depth employee satisfaction surveys and, based on the results, draw up action plans to address any areas of concern. Every year, we invest heavily in developing the professional knowledge and the occupational safety and management skills of our staff. We believe it’s important to create a psychologically safe working environment, which is why we train our employees to build good relationships, resolve work conflicts effectively and prevent workplace bullying, among other things.

Over the years, we’ve supported elite and grassroots sporting events, cultural and social life, a wide range of activities and donated money to charity. With our help, positive emotions have been provided by Estonian skiing, Tartu marathons, Filter Road Cup races, Tartu city run, Pärnu series of runs, song and dance festivals, the Felix Hall of Põltsamaa sports centre, local go-karting track, Põltsamaa concerts, Põltsamaa Castle Days and many other events.

In order to contribute to the development of our society, we’ve decided to focus on our future – we support those young people who create value, mainly for the Põltsamaa region through their activities and initiatives.