Protecting plants and animals is one of the pillars of Woolworths' Good business journey. Here's more about their efforts to protect our planet.

BIODIVERSITY

Woolworths SA is absolutely committed to selling products that do not cause harm to the natural world around us in the way they are made. We have done a number of things to make sure that this is the case.

Genetically modified (GM) ingredients are taken out of our food wherever possible.

Any GM ingredients remaining are clearly labelled – which means you can make informed choices while you’re shopping.

As far as possible, any wood we use comes from sustainably managed forests – that means it comes from trees that can be replaced with no harm to the environment.

Our hake is only bought from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) approved suppliers. This means that the fish comes from a well-managed fishery and has not contributed to the environmental problem of over-fishing. Read more in Sustainable fishing and the SASSI label.

Honey is sourced only from farmers that harvest honey without harm to honey badgers.

We are introducing non-lethal methods of capturing predators (for example, leopard) on farms rearing animals destined for Woolworths stores.

ANIMAL WELFARE

Woolworths has always had clear guidelines on animal welfare. These include:

An NSPCA-approved Animal Welfare Code of Practice.

Insistence that all animals destined for stores must be reared humanely and treated fairly in accordance with our code – abattoirs are regularly audited by a Woolworths technologist.

We do not permit:

animal testing - we have never asked or commissioned our health and beauty suppliers to conduct testing on animals. Our animal welfare policy requires that suppliers did not use any raw materials tested on animals after 1 January 2001.

Products made from real fur: our health and beauty suppliers to use ingredients that are by-products of the food industry.

The use of duck feather and down that is not a by-product of the food industry.