Traceability

As part of our confirmed commitment to traceability, Muntons acquired the long-established Simpsons Seeds business in 1996.

Through a policy of continuous improvement, Muntons formed an alliance with Suffolk-based seed company GB Seeds in 2001 to process and pack all Simpsons Seed.

This close link with GB Seeds allows us to maintain control over the grain supplied through buy-back contracts, which are grown wherever possible with certified Simpsons Seed.

New and existing varieties of malting barley and wheat are contract-grown by assured farmers specifically for Muntons through the ex-farm trading functions at Stowmarket.

Muntons plc -A Responsible and Ethical Supplier
Muntons takes seriously the need to act in a responsible and ethical manner in the following key areas:

Compliance with applicable laws and standards:
Muntons plc keeps abreast of legislation through links with trade bodies, official Internet websites and business and case law updates through external companies such as GEE. Compliance with laws on health and safety, environment and other applicable law are given high priority at executive level via review at our board meetings.

Employment practices:
Equal opportunity
Muntons plc is an equal opportunity employer with respect to race, religion, sex, colour, physical ability, marital status and age as described in our staff handbook. We do not tolerate sexual harassment or bullying at work.
Health and Safety
Muntons plc has a high regard for the health and safety of its employees. A Company director is responsible for Health and Safety implementation within the group. We also have a trained Safety Advisor to assist us in the implementation of existing and new legislation. At each of our sites we have local safety representatives appointed by the unions and representatives of employee safety selected from our workforce. These are organised into committees meeting monthly. Compliance with health and safety standards via corrective actions is monitored and reported at divisional board level each month with a main board review every six months. We are also members of the British Safety Council.
Trade Union Membership
Our employees are free to join a trade union. We have good relations with our main unions and provide adequate facilities for them to meet and administer their business on site.
Fair employment terms
Muntons plc takes great care to ensure that employment terms and conditions are fair and equitable. These are also reviewed with our union representatives and legal advisors. Wages are set with reference to market rate for the job. Advancement of employees within the Company is encouraged by giving access to internal and external training as appropriate for the job and for wider personal development within their chosen career. We always advertise vacancies within the Company before looking externally. We are compliant with the Working Time Directive and closely monitor the hours that our employees work. We support many educational initiatives both locally and nationally.

Purchasing Policy:
Muntons plc has an ethical purchasing and supply policy. When purchasing on behalf of the Company, employees are always expected to act professionally and selflessly and foster fair, ethical and legal trade practices. Vendors are expected to apply fair, ethical and legal trade practices when doing business with the Company.

Download Muntons plc Standard Conditions of Purchase

Environmental Practices:
Muntons plc has an Environmental Policy such that we will comply with all legislation on the environment. We are certificated to ISO14001 at our Stowmarket site and plan to extend this to Bridlington in the near future. In addition we specifically take our carbon emissions seriously as required by the Kyoto agreement. We have a 10-year energy reduction target within the Climate Change agreement and are ahead of our targets for energy reduction per unit of production. We are also compliant with the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, which is a further means to limit carbon emissions to air. Our Stowmarket site wastewater treatment plant has been used for publicity by the UK Environment Agency to demonstrate how effective cooperation between industry and government can be.

Food Safety and Hygiene:
We supply into the food and beverage industries and take hygiene very seriously. All our employees are trained in basic food safety and hygiene with specific reference to the production of malt and malted ingredients. Our Stowmarket plants are certificated to British Retail Consortium Global Standard Food (Issue 4) at the highest ‘A’ grade. We are leading members of industry best practice groups driving through continual improvement in an industry standard HACCP protocol and the externally accredited Assured UK Malt standard. We are certificated to provide Kosher and Organic products. For the protection of the food supply chain we only purchase grain from approved suppliers; maintain certification to the Trade Assurance Scheme for Combinable Crops (TASCC) for our haulage and analytical operations and the Feed Materials Accreditation Scheme (FEMAS) to protect the co-products we sell as animal feed. All of these engender in our staff an understanding of the importance of food quality and hygiene in creating products for human consumption or co-products for animal feed and make our workplace hygienic and pleasant to work in.