Dawn Meats has become the first food processor to achieve the ‘Business Working Responsibly’ (BWR) mark across all its Irish plants.

The Waterford-based processor, which employs over 7,300 people in Ireland and around the world, was first awarded the BWR mark at its plant in Carroll’s Cross in 2017 and today became the first food processor to receive certification across all of its plants in the country.

Commenting on the achievement, Niall Browne, Dawn Meats’ CEO, said: “Today’s certification is the result of considerable effort by our whole team since we first started to work with Business in the Community in 2015.

We focused our energies on one site in 2017 and following certification at Carroll’s Cross, proceeded to replicate this best-in-class standard at every plant nationwide.

“I would like to congratulate and thank each and every one of our team on this independent verification of the work that we are doing to integrate CSR and sustainability into every area of our business.”

The mark is audited by the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) and is managed by Business in the Community Ireland (BITC).

The certification comes following the release of Dawn Meats’ second CSR report earlier this year where it announced it has reduced CO2 emissions by 33% just four years into a 10-year strategy.

Dawn Meats has also signed up to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in May of this year. It is the first European beef and lamb processor to publicly commit to SBTi and the measurement of its progress on externally verified sustainability goals.

A review of the business from corporate responsibility governance, to workplace, marketplace, environment and community practices take place at audit stage, which was completed over three days in November 2019.

According to a statement from Dawn, the benefits of certification with the Business Working Responsibly (BWR) mark include the opportunity to benchmark amongst peers and enhance sustainability credentials in contracting new business.

Dawn Meats also participates in the BITC Leaders Group on Sustainability, a collaboration between the CEOs of some of Ireland’s largest organisations addressing social, economic and environmental challenges.