Hot Spot Guide Spices
Study by the Centre for Sustainable Enterprise Management (ZNU) on the sustainability challenges of spices and herbs along the value chain.
The Adalbert-Raps-Stiftung is currently funding the Centre for Sustainable Management (ZNU) at Witten/Herdecke University for a study on key sustainability hot spots for selected spices and herbs. Ecological hot spots mainly comprise the use of pesticides and fertilisers, while the social challenges are mainly occupational safety and health and living wages. Of the economic issues, product safety and quality as well as legal compliance are particularly relevant. Practical checklists were developed in order to operationalise the essential topics for companies.
Hot Spot Guide to Spices to provide orientation
The question of the sustainability of our food is becoming increasingly important in societal debate. This is supported, among other things, by the United Nations' Agenda 2030 with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the German Sustainability Strategy. The Due Diligence Act also brings sustainability along the value chains more into focus. However, spices and herbs are often still "under the radar" in the current discussion. There is also a lack of scientific data on what the key sustainability issues are for the individual spices.
The aim of the Hot Spot Guide to Spices is to provide scientifically sound insight into and an overview of the main sustainability challenges for spices and herbs. In the future, it is intended to serve as a neutral and resilient point of reference for employees of companies in the spice sector, trade, politics, media and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), as well as providing a reliable framework for the wider interested public.
The result of the study is the key social, ecological and economic sustainability challenges of chilli, pepper, pepper, onion and parsley.
University of Witten/Herdecke, Centre for Sustainable Corporate Management (ZNU)
Project leader:
Dr. Ulrike Eberle