Throughout our 87-year history, Tyson Foods has always found innovative and creative ways to feed people responsibly, and we’re on a journey to continuously improve how we do so in the future. More than ever, we operate as part of the global food system and have a critical role to play when it comes to offering affordable, accessible and nutritious protein to our neighbors at home and around the world.
Our FY2021 Sustainability Report launched today showcases our renewed strategic commitment and aspirations to become the most sustainable and transparent protein company in the world.
As one of the world’s largest global food companies and a recognized leader in protein, we employ more than 137,000 people, operate more than 268 manufacturing facilities and market our products in 140 countries. We’re always looking for ways to use our scale and leadership position in the industry and the communities where we work to create greater good.
In 2021 we began a process to further establish long-range 2030 goals and metrics that will help more deeply embed our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) priorities and commitments into our business.
Through a materiality assessment, we engaged diverse stakeholders, such as hourly and salaried workers, senior leadership, investors, customers, suppliers, NGOs, government agencies and other organizations, and as a result gained a stronger understanding of the issues that matter most to them. These conversations reinforced the opportunity Tyson Foods has to drive a better future for society and further demonstrated how investing in people and planet is critical for our growth. In our FY 2021 Sustainability Report, we fine-tuned the three pillars of our Formula to Feed the Future strategy, broadening the scope of the focus areas that we are committed to positively impacting for team members, communities, our industry and our business. Underpinning these focus areas is a strong foundation of corporate governance, business ethics, supply chain management, and data privacy & cybersecurity.
The 2021 report shares the key achievements supporting our Formula to Feed the Future that are organized against this strategic shift:
Reimagining People & Community Impact: Create work environments that enable workers to succeed while supporting the growth of our communities
- Talent Attraction & Development:
- Invested $500 million+ in wage increases and bonuses to our hourly workforce, including $50 million in one-time, thank-you bonuses delivered at the end of the year.
- Expanded our Upward Academy adult education program to provide all U.S. team members with free education through a four-year, $60 million investment.
- DEI: Established the role of VP and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, and presented a DEI strategy to our Board of Directors, holding us accountable to ensuring equity and opportunity for all members of the Tyson Foods team.
- Human Rights & Labor Relations: Committed $1 million through the Tyson Immigration Partnership to expand legal and citizenship support to team members across the nation ensuring that everyone has access to training, education and legal support to becoming U.S. citizens and welcome members of our communities
- Health, Safety & Wellbeing: Achieved over 96% COVID-19 vaccination rate in our U.S. workforce by our target of Nov. 1, 2021, as part of our commitment to keep employees, their families and plant communities safe.
- Community Investment: Donated 16 million+ lbs of protein— valued at $36 million and equivalent to 64 million meals—to support food banks, pantries and hunger relief organizations.
Driving Product Responsibility from Farm to Table: Deliver value to consumers with high quality, sustainable, nutritious protein through a leading portfolio of products
- Product Innovation: Reached a $100 million+ total investment into Tyson Ventures to support startups and other companies focused on emerging proteins, new technologies for food and worker safety and sustainable production.
- Sustainable Packaging: Piloted sustainable packaging solutions for several products and began testing the validation of new recyclable, pulp fiber trays to replace traditional trays made of foam.
- Animal Health & Welfare: Integrated the Five Domains animal welfare framework across global operations and became the first beef processor to join the U.S. CattleTrace program.
- Nutrition, Access & Affordability: Expanded our portfolio with several innovative and healthy new options, including Tyson Air Fried Chicken Bites, Tyson Chicken Sausage and Raised & Rooted Plant Based Bites.
- Product Quality & Safety: Continued to honor our commitment to produce safe, high quality food that complies with all applicable laws and meets stringent quality, safety, and durability requirements. We also require suppliers of food contact packaging to be certified against and comply with the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) guidelines for food contact packaging.
Working Toward Sustaining Natural Resources and Achieving Net Zero: Drive practices in our own operations and supply chains to sustainably produce protein for a growing population within planetary boundaries
- Climate Action: Announced our ambition to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, by 2050.
- Land Stewardship: Developed a beef-focused GHG emissions accounting framework to capture cradle-to-gate emissions and verify emission reductions through more sustainable agricultural practices.
- Water Stewardship: Achieved Alliance for Water Stewardship verification for three U.S. plants.
- Waste Reduction: Achieved Zero Waste to Landfill gold-level validation at six U.S. plants where 95-99% of certain waste streams has been diverted from landfills.
The sustainability report is available on our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Hub, which provides resources on all of our sustainability initiatives, including background information on key topics, ESG-related policies and statements and an ESG data center.
To read the full Sustainability Report and learn more about our sustainability initiatives, please visit here.