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20x30 Challenge

In continuing with our corporate responsibility leadership, we will strive to achieve 20 corporate responsibility goals by 2030 and will report on our progress annually.

Our new goals follow our previous set of sustainability goals in which we achieved significant reductions in our packaging, nonrenewable energy use, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water use and solid waste sent to landfills. We developed our new goals based on our robust key topics assessment process that identifies and prioritizes the topics most relevant to our business and our stakeholders. In addition to this process, we aimed to set goals that helped support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

1-3 Products

GOAL 1

Continue to offer high-quality, safe, affordable and convenient products that meet a wide range of consumer preferences and needs.

2022 PROGRESS

We launched more than 400 new retail and foodservice items to continue to meet consumer preferences and needs.

GOAL 2

Continue our clean-label initiative and efforts to reduce added sugars and sodium in our products, and increase desirable ingredients to nourish a diverse population.

2022 PROGRESS

We continued to focus on efforts to reduce added sugars and sodium in our products throughout the year, including the launch of reduced-sodium options in our Hormel® turkey chili with bean, Hormel® turkey chili no bean and Hormel® chunky chili no bean.

GOAL 3

Achieve 15% of sales from new products each year*

2022 PROGRESS

In 2022, we reached 13% of sales from innovative items.**

*Based on net sales for new items launched within the previous three years and the projected sales for items scheduled to launch in the next two years, divided by total reported sales for the year.
**Includes MegaMex Foods.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #2

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #3

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

UN Sustainable Development Goal #12

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

4-6 Supply Chain

Goal 4

Maintain high standards for animal care and handling throughout our supply chain.

2022 Progress

We conducted more than 2,800 audits to ensure that our standards are being met.

Goal 5

Advance our antibiotic stewardship efforts and pilot an antibiotic use measurement and reporting system.

2022 Progress

We continued to share our efforts and progress through our annual Antibiotic Stewardship Report.

Goal6

Continue to increase our purchasing spend annually with small and diverse businesses.

2022 Progress

Our total purchasing spend with diverse businesses, including small, women-owned, minority-owned and veteran-owned businesses, was over $1.5 billion across Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers in calendar year 2022.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #3

Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

UN Sustainable Development Goal #8

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #10

Reduce inequality within and among countries

UN Sustainable Development Goal #12

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

7-13 Environment

In addition to the environmental sustainability goals listed below, each year we aim to achieve a 1% reduction in GHG emissions, energy use and solid waste sent to landfills, and a 2% reduction in water use. We also aim to achieve annual efficiency gains of 1% in energy and water use.

Read the Press Release

Goal 7

Match 100% of our energy with renewable sourcing.

2022 Progress

In 2022, 100% of our U.S. and 96% of global electricity usage were matched with renewable sources.

Goal 8

Demonstrate climate leadership by establishing a science-based target (SBT) for the reduction of GHG emissions by 2023.

2022 Progress

We completed our SBTs submission to the Science Based Targets initiatve (SBTi) in July 2022 for final validation and approval of our emissions-reduction goals.

Goal 9

Advance our water stewardship efforts through initiatives in our top six priority watersheds.

2022 Progress

In 2022, we became a lead sponsor of a 50,000-acre pilot project in Minnesota as part of the Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (ESMC) Eco-Harvest market program, which is designed to generate positive outcomes in environmental impact measurement, water stewardship, carbon removals and agricultural resilience.

Goal 10

Reduce organic waste discharge from our manufacturing facilities by 10% to decrease energy use and GHG emissions and improve water quality.*

2022 Progress

We achieved a 21% reduction in organic waste discharge in 2022. Due to the variability in organic discharge test results, this goal will be replaced by a wastewater-management and water-reduction target.

*Starting in 2023, we will transition our focus on organic waste reduction to investing in wastewater treatment projects in collaboration with municipal partners and reducing water use by 10% by 2030 from a 2022 baseline to systematically reduce impacts of organic matter in waste discharges and water footprints of our business.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #6

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #7

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #12

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

UN Sustainable Development Goal #13

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

11-13 Environment

Goal 11

Support regenerative agriculture initiatives.

2022 Progress

We started to explore a deforestation-free supply chain in alignment with SBTi’s Forest Land and Agriculture Guidance (FLAG). Our Applegate (Bridgewater, N.J.) subsidiary continued to provide the Applegate Naturals® Do Good Dog™ hot dog product made with beef raised on verified regenerative U.S. grasslands and received two product awards in 2022.

Goal 12

Focus on packaging sustainability efforts through research, innovation, on-package communications, and optimizing package weight and shipping efficiencies.

2022 Progress

Our packaging team’s sustainability initiatives resulted in more than 1.5 million pounds in material savings.* In addition, we added the How2Recycle logo to 300 items.

*Savings are based on an annual rolling average and include all projects captured by the corporate packaging development group.

Goal 13

Work toward zero food waste.

2022 Progress

We continued to prioritize food donation opportunities and provide consumers with useful tips to reduce household food waste.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #6

Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #7

Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #12

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

UN Sustainable Development Goal #13

Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts

14-18 People

Goal 14

Promote and protect human rights within our operations and our supply chain.

2022 Progress

In 2022, more than 159,930 hours were dedicated to human rights training.

Goal 15

Provide the opportunity of a free two-year college education for all our team members’ dependent high school graduates.

2022 Progress

We provided the opportunity of a free two-year college education to 177 students through our Inspired Pathways program.

Goal 16

Foster a sense of belonging for everyone, where people feel respected and valued, by empowering them with opportunities, equitable treatment and a voice to make Hormel Foods better for all.*

2022 Progress

The company’s total population of team members from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups is 59% across our U.S. workforce. To continue to increase the sense of belonging at Hormel Foods, we undertook numerous initiatives throughout our operations. We expanded inclusive workspaces in our production facilities to include the provision of lactation rooms, gender-neutral restrooms and updated wellness facilities.

*Hormel Foods has updated its Goal No. 16 to be more reflective of the company’s broader commitment to inclusion and belonging for the enterprise.

Goal 17

Provide a safe workplace for all team members and reduce our injury rates each year.

2022 Progress

We continued to strive to reduce injury rates and maintain a safe workplace for all team members. Our rates are far below the industry average.

Goal 18

Invest in our team members by providing an average of at least 25 hours of training per team member annually.

2022 Progress

On average, we provided 58 training hours per team member in 2022.

UN Sustainable Development Goal #4

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #5

Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

UN Sustainable Development Goal #8

Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

UN Sustainable Development Goal #10

Reduce inequality within and among countries

19-20 Community

Goal 19

Provide the equivalent of 70 million meals to those in need through cash and product donations.*

2022 Progress

We continued our commitment to helping end hunger around the world by donating a total of $9.3 million (or more than 9.4 million individual meals) to hunger-relief efforts. We are on track to achieve our goal of providing the equivalent of 70 million meals to those in need through cash and product donations by 2030

*Using the Feeding America estimations of $1 donated = 10 meals and 1.2 pounds donated = one meal.

Goal 20

Create a food-secure community program and share blueprint and findings globally.

2022 Progress

We successfully launched the Hometown Food Security Project in Austin, Minn., with the United Way of Mower County and coalition partners.

*Using the Feeding America estimations of $1 donated = 10 meals and 1.2 pounds donated = one meal

UN Sustainable Development Goal #2

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

UN Sustainable Development Goal #10

Reduce inequality within and among countries