The company states that once its changes are fully implemented, fruit and vegetables including sugar snaps, green beans and passion fruit will only be transported via sea or road freight.
In addition, the supermarket chain says it is focusing on finding suppliers as close as possible. It argues that it will only use suppliers located far away when absolutely necessary.
“Quality, sustainability, food safety and cost play a role in the choice between close by or far away. For example, for a product that’s not grown in the Netherlands, such as oranges, far away is necessary. Air transport is not a sustainable means of transport from the point of view climate change. Albert Heijn is therefore constantly looking at ways to procure products grown in the Netherlands, or close by, or to use more sustainable modes of transport,” says the company.
Henk van Harn, director of merchandising and procurement at Albert Heijn, added:
“From 1 June 2023, all our unprocessed fruit and vegetables will be transported via sea container or road transport. You don’t make a choice like that overnight: we also have a responsibility towards our suppliers with whom we have been working for decades. We think it is important to deal responsibly with our share of environmental impact. We want to keep the impact of our activities as small as possible”
Albert Heijn says half of its fruit and vegetables come from the Netherlands. The supermarket stresses this share is growing further thanks to greater procurement of seasonal produce and suppliers using new cultivation and storage techniques.
As an example of the latter, Albert Heijn says it is currently part of a small-scale pilot that will see ginger grown in the Netherlands. As it stands, the supermarket typically imports ginger from either China or South America.