Tazaki Foods Modern Slavery and human trafficking Statement

Introduction

Modern Slavery is a crime resulting in objectionable abuse of human rights. It could be manifested in different ways such as slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking. Tazaki Foods is committed to social and environmental responsibility and has zero tolerance for slavery and human trafficking. The company is also committed to acting ethically and with integrity and transparency in all of its business dealings and relations by enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure that the modern slavery and human trafficking are not taking place anywhere either its own business or in any of its supply chains.

The directors and the senior management team at Tazaki foods are fully committed to the implementation of the requirements of the of Modern Slavery Act 2015. The management team, such as Procurement Manager, Technical Manager, Operation Managers, have day-to-day responsibility for implementing this policy, monitoring its use and effectiveness and auditing internal control systems and policies and procedures to ensure they are effective in preventing or remediating the risk of modern slavery. They are also responsible for investigating allegations of modern slavery in the Company’s business or supply chains.

The Company aims to encourage openness and will support anyone who raises genuine concerns in good faith under this policy, even if they turn out to be mistaken. The Company is committed to ensuring no one suffers any detrimental treatment or victimisation as a result of reporting in good faith their suspicion that modern slavery is or may be taking place in any part of its business or in any of its supply chains.

Tazaki Foods business structure

Tazaki foods was originally established in 1978 with the specific purpose of importing, developing and distributing Japanese food and drink products into UK and Europe. Tazaki Foods Ltd is an importer and wholesaler distributor of traditional Japanese and Oriental ambient, chilled and frozen products in the UK – selling not only to the Japanese restaurants and retail sector, but also to major supermarket chains throughout Europe.

Our Supply Chain

We continuously seek to provide customers with consistent supply of quality ingredients and products. Our supply chain is complex and includes the sourcing of food worldwide. Tazaki foods tries to source products responsibly from overseas depending on the season and the availability. Our 200 plus suppliers are a broad mix of sizes and structures. We deal directly with manufacturers and importers and other larger cooperatives. Wherever a product originates, Tazaki Foods is fully committed to a policy of only dealing with products that have been sourced in an ethically responsible and legal manner, this way Tazaki Foods will be helping to support a sustainable transparent supply chain.

Our policy on Modern Slavery and Human trafficking

We follow the values of a family enterprise and we will be honest, fair and trustworthy in all our activities and relationships. We ensure to foster an atmosphere where fair employment practices and a safe workplace extend to every member of our diverse workplace. Our company values outline our expectations of ethical conduct for all Tazaki Foods employees. Tazaki Foods aims for a consistent approach when working with suppliers and that ethical trading considerations remain a critical factor when choosing our supply base and approval process.

Due Diligence

Tazaki Foods approach will be risk based. For example, the majority of our imported goods come from sources outside of the UK and EU which is potentially a higher risk for slavery and human trafficking issues. We will focus on these supply chains first. All our current suppliers are being asked to confirm, to their best abilities that there is no problem with slavery and human trafficking within their businesses or supply chains. Those unable to give assurances are found to be in breach, or risk termination of contract. Tazaki Foods never knowingly accept products from suppliers who exploit the people or natural resources within their environment.

Continuous improvement, communication & training

A group of managers has been formed to agree the best approach to further reduce the possibility of slavery of human trafficking within an element of our supply chain. The team will agree in conjunction with the board a robust time –plan for continued improvement to better ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place at Tazaki Foods or its supply chain. Regular training on this policy and on the risk that the business faces from the modern slavery in its supply chains, will be provided to staff as necessary so that they know how to identify exploitation and modern slavery.

Chikahiro Furukawa
Managing Director
Dated 01/01/2024 for financial year ending 31/12/2023