ECOCARE 2011

International concepts honoured

On 1 September, at the Food Hotel Neuwied, InterMopro, InterCool and InterMeat along with LEBENSMITTEL PRAXIS presented eight companies from Germany, Holland and Switzerland with the ECOCARE 2011 sustainability award.

For the second time, the Düsseldorf fresh products fairs and LEBENSMITTEL PRAXIS trade magazine embarked on a joint search for outstanding sustainability concepts from the food retail sector and industry as well as from suppliers and service-providers in the sector. This year, a large number of exciting, innovative applications were submitted in the Technology/Process, Project and Product categories. Over the past few months in a multi-phase selection process, the jury of experts filtered out what in their view were the most impressive entries and then presented eight companies with the 2011 ECOCARE Award at the Food Hotel Neuwied.

In the Product category first place went to Tegut for their LandPrimus own-brand quality pork range. Second place belonged to pasta specialist Alb-Gold, which was presented with an award for its GM technology-free, home-made egg noodles, and in third place the jury selected Gepa-The Fair Trade Company with its new, fair-trade chocolate assortment. In the Project category the Rewe Group was rewarded with first place for its ProPlanet-Label, second place was secured by Unilever with the “Cultivation for the future” Knorr programme, while third place went to the Migros subsidiary Micarna for MAZUBI, a concept for learners at Micarna. In the Technology/Process category the experts awarded first place to the “Caring Dairy” sustainability system from Beemster - Cono Kaasmakers. The “Networking, sharing and distributing” logistic process initiated by the Bundesverband Deutsche Tafel e.V. (German Federal Association of Tafel Initiatives) secured second place.

The “ECOCARE” Award is based on the three pillars of sustainability: ecology, economy and social aspects. The prerequisite for an application: the concept must make a significant contribution to the core business of the company. The members of the jury are: Dr. Daniela Büchel (Director of Strategic Operations / Group Marketing at the Rewe Group), Dr. Axel Kölle (ZNU – Zentrum für nachhaltige Unternehmensführung (Centre for Sustainability Management) / University Witten/Herdecke), Uwe Bergmann (Director of Sustainability/CSR Management, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA), Marion Sollbach (in charge of sustainability at Galeria Kaufhof), Hans-Günter Trockels (Managing Director Kuchenmeister GmbH), Elke Moebius (Director InterMopro /InterCool/InterMeat) and Bettina Röttig (Editor LEBENSMITTEL PRAXIS).

The next ECOCARE will be presented within the framework of InterMopro, InterCool and InterMeat 2012 from 23 to 25 September 2012 in Düsseldorf. The fresh products fairs in Halls 9 - 12 at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre are open for trade visitors daily from 10 am – 6 pm.