The Carrefour Group has established a new food advisory committee, whose members include the founder of a food waste app as well as Danone CEO Emmanuel Faber.
The French retailer wants to set itself up as a leader in the transformation of food, saying the committee will support Carrefour as it evolves its focus by “participating in concrete projects linked to the food transition, sharing best practices, proposing new ideas, and leading forward-looking discussions about changes in food consumption”.
The group will be led by Laurent Vallée, who in January was placed in charge of spearheading the transformation across the Carrefour Group.
“This committee is made up of seven people from outside the group, all from different backgrounds, but committed to addressing the food-related challenges we are facing,” Carrefour said in a statement announcing the formation of the committee.
They include Emmanuel Faber, the CEO of Danone, who Carrefour described as “a key partner who will help us implement the food transition for all”.
Other experts on the committee include Lucie Basch, the founder of a food waste app that puts retailers in touch with consumers, who can then collect unsold stock, preventing it from going to waste; as well as Caroline Robert, an oncologist at the Gustave Roussy cancer research institute in Paris, whose inclusion reflects the growing association between diet and disease.
The group also includes a farmer, a chef, an agricultural expert and the developer of an open-source platform that brings together farmers, restaurant owners and members of the public.
Myriam Bouré co-founded Open Food as a means of creating short, independent distribution channels – one of a number of recent food-tech developments that brings the producer closer to the consumer. Her role on the committee suggests that is remit will extend beyond simply nutrition, and follows both an investment from Carrefour of €2.8 billion in its e-commerce capabilities as well as a partnership with Google that will make groceries from Carrefour supermarkets available through Google’s French shopping website from 2019 onwards. Both partnerships were announced since the beginning of this year.
The company has also improved the recyclability of its packaging and taken a stake in a French meal kit start-up as it recognises a shift in consumer habits.
In July, Carrefour announced a ‘strategic’ three-year alliance with Tesco in an effort to boost profitability.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024
