The Food Network for Ethical Trade is happy to share a blog announcing the release of the Tackling Discrimination Supplier Toolkit. Developed by Sainsbury’s and the Oxfam Business Advisory Service, the toolkit is an open-access tool designed to support businesses to tackle discrimination. This blog provides an overview of the tool and how it may be used by businesses aiming to address discrimination. This blog was written by Jiselle Steele and Sarah Picasso.

The Food Network for Ethical Trade is a membership organisation with nearly 80 members. We frequently have new members join, and they proceed through our “new member journey”, which we tailor to each individual member and their needs. Through this journey, they learn more about human rights in food supply chains, responsible sourcing in food, have access to FNET shared resources, and receive guidance and support from our ethical trade experts.

According to International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates, every day, 6,300 people die as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases – more than 2.3 million deaths per year. Another 317 million workers sustain non-fatal injuries, particularly in hazardous industrial sectors such as agriculture and construction. The economic burden of poor occupational safety and health practices is estimated at 4 per cent of global GDP each year.

We are happy to welcome Jessica Turner as our new Communications and Membership Manager. Jess will be supporting the Climate and Responsible Recruitment Working Groups, as well as leading on our communications and website.

The Coop hosted 80 attendees at Food Network for Ethical Trade (FNET)  All Members Day on 7th May 2025, which proved to be a productive and creative event. The day featured demonstrations of members artistic skills, updates on FNET working groups, and activities designed to help members connect and collaborate. Additionally, we delved into three key topics identified by our members as area they wanted help to progress: Collaborative Action Required (CAR) issues from SMETA audits, measuring impact, and remediation.

“The Food Network for Ethical Trade (FNET) welcomes this important report on recruitment practices within the tuna industry. We believe meaningful, lasting change on systemic human rights challenges is only possible through collaboration. Supporting this study reflects our commitment to collective action and shared learning. We look forward to working with our members alongside industry bodies, governments, and the private sector to address recruitment risks, and turn these insights into practical action — supporting the advancement of fairer, safer recruitment practices not only in the tuna sector, but across global food supply chains.”

Today marks a special day for FNET team and for Linda especially, as we say goodbye to our colleague and wish her a long and healthy retirement. Linda has been in the food industry for over 40 years across several sectors, different roles and operating in global geographies including Europe, Thailand, Vietnam and India. Linda’s passion for human rights and fairness led her to joining FNET in 2023 where she was able to support our Working Groups in Responsible Recruitment, Empowering Work and Development of Common Due Diligence Tools, as well as lead the new member onboarding and outreach program.

 One of the challenges for suppliers in global supply chains is the lack of alignment between their customers. This creates additional costs, admin burden, complexity, and confusion. At the Food Network for Ethical trade our membership is on a mission to align our approaches, reduce duplication and make it easier for organisations in our supply chains to see our requirements are common with our peers.