Stakeholder Engagement

Tom Delay, CEO of the Carbon Trust, comments on their partnership with Heinz

Across all platforms, Heinz engages with stakeholders to guide our reporting efforts, identify opportunities for advancement or focus, and work in partnership to deliver on our CSR programs.

Effective and ongoing stakeholder engagement is the foundation of our business and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

Heinz recognizes the value of maintaining an active dialogue with a diverse group of global partners, including employees, consumers, customers, shareholders, investors, non-government organizations and non-profit partners. Maintaining an open and constructive dialogue with stakeholders helps our Company to understand their views. It also strengthens our relationships with stakeholders and helps to guide our decisions to deliver on our commitments to them.

Across all platforms, we engage with stakeholders to guide our reporting efforts, identify opportunities for advancement or focus, and work in partnership to deliver on our CSR programs.

Scope of Engagement

The diverse range of global stakeholders requires strategy that addresses varied levels and types of engagement. Our outreach, assessment and follow-up depend on several factors, including the nature of the stakeholder interest, the relevance to our business strategy and the most practical manner to deliver against the stakeholders’ needs and expectations.

We are committed to ongoing participation in several leading investor-related indices. Annually, we respond to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Trucost, and Sustainalytics, among other indices that are focused on corporate social responsibility and sustainability. Heinz also has an ongoing commitment to the Carbon Disclosure Project. The evolution of these external indices has guided our commitment to deliver and expand our sustainability programs.

As a global company in the packaged foods industry, Heinz also makes consumer engagement a priority. Our brand teams are in continuous conversation to understand consumers’ diverse tastes, needs and trends through research, focus groups, direct outreach and through our increased use of social media. Additionally, each Heinz Business Unit has Consumer Services Representatives that consumers can contact by phone, email or mail to express their views or concerns. These professionals are trained to answer questions consumers may have about our products or the Company, and our toll-free service also plays a valuable role when consumers report their opinions about our products.

Employee engagement is an internal priority because we believe people are the Company’s greatest asset. We value input and feedback from our employees. As a result, we regularly survey employees on our business practices and our progress in the area of social responsibility. In Fiscal Year 2011, the Company administered a global employee survey to benchmark our efforts and progress in areas ranging from employee engagement and professional development to workplace culture. We also conducted employee focus groups following the survey to develop potential initiatives to drive improvement in some areas. This survey will be repeated every two years to measure our progress against employee feedback.

To engage other important stakeholders across the Heinz globe, such as local governments and functional business groups, our Regional Business Units and specialists in areas such as nutrition or supply chain may conduct regular meetings with these stakeholders; participate in research projects, surveys and symposia; and contribute to public policy and special interest group debates.

Decisions to engage stakeholders are made at local, regional and global levels, and the results guide our business decision-making. Heinz focuses on issues where we can make a meaningful contribution. Generally, we find that constructive dialogue, including discussions with stakeholders who may hold critical views of the Company or our position, enhances our ability to make responsible decisions.

Since Heinz has operations across six continents, it is not possible to list all our engagement activity with stakeholders.