At rice, we work with our hearts, and it is very important to us, that all of our products are produced with respect for the people that handle them.

Most of our products are produced by workers in developing countries, and therefore we make sure that the production - from beginning to end - is handled with the utmost respect for human rights, under safe and healthy working conditions, and without the use of child labor. We choose suppliers, who live up to our ethical standards - and with the use of internationally renowned guidelines, like the SA8000 standard, Global Compact, and the CSR Compass, we help them further to improve their working conditions (read more about our Code of Conduct here).

Supplier Commitment

When we enter into an agreement with a supplier, we always ask the supplier to sign ourSupplier Commitment. OurSupplier Commitmentcontains a number of questions designed to reveal the supplier’s actual approach to social responsibility - including topics like production safety, discrimination, child labor, freedom of association, working hours, wages, freedom of communication between employees and management, and toxic waste management.

It is a precondition from our side, that all of our suppliers receive and sign this document in order for us to enter into a partnership.

Audits and improvements

To make sure that our production is handled correctly, we audit all of our largest suppliers every second year. This is done by using the SA8000 standard, which is a standard for how to do business responsibly. When we perform audits, we work thoroughly covering below areas that all must be approved in order for the supplier to be approved as a rice supplier.

Safety and Health

  • Responsibilities
  • Accident prevention
  • Fire prevention
  • Access to drinking water
  • Access to toilets

Ethical attitude

  • No child labor
  • No forced labor
  • No disciplinary practices
  • No discrimination
  • Fair working hours
  • Fair wages
  • Freedom of association & right to collective bargaining
  • Internal communication

Suppliers control

  • Sub-suppliers

Should non-conformities be found in relation to social responsibility and above-mentioned areas, we do not back out of the supplier agreement immediately. With our rice Code of Conduct, we commit ourselves to helping our suppliers become better at improving their facilities according to international standards for keeping a socially responsible business. So instead we come up with a plan on how to best counterbalance those non-conformities.

We therefore all the time try to help our suppliers to be better and to keep an ongoing focus on social responsibility. We do this, because we work with our hearts, and because we believe such an approach will result in a more loyal and respectful relationship.