De Heus receives the European Award for Business Quality for its commitment to quality and sustainability

“De Heus not only maintains an unwavering commitment to the quality of its products, it has also developed a long-term strategy whose goal is to guide all of the company’s actions towards sustainability”, noted the organisers. Through these awards, the AEDEEC, the association presided by prestigious journalist José Luis Barceló, the Governing Council of which includes entrepreneurs and celebrities such as Enrique Cerezo, Quique Sarasola and Gay de Liébana, pays tribute to the hard work and commitment to quality of professionals and large companies.

For his part, the general director of De Heus Iberia, Jean-François Honoré, said during the ceremony that he felt “very proud of this recognition that endorses De Heus’ commitment to business excellence and the way in which a team of more than 450 people understands and experiences its mission. We work hard every day to support our customers, offering them a wide range of services, nutritional solutions and technologies aimed at creating efficient livestock operations and businesses that are viable over time”.

Winning the 2021 European Award for Business Quality comes after the company was named Best Animal Nutrition Company early in the year. Both awards are testament to the bright period currently being enjoyed by the Dutch multinational, which arrived in Spain in 2015 and, since then, has not stopped growing in terms of sales volume and influence on the national market.

The permanent search for sustainability understood as an integral commitment that goes beyond simply caring for the environment is another of the defining characteristics of the company’s DNA. “We actively work with a future strategy in four areas that we consider essential for the sustainability of our business in the long term”, explained Honoré. “First promoting safe and healthy animal nutrition, through programmes for the reduction of the use of antibiotics, utilising residual flow, food-safety protocols and other initiatives for animal wellbeing and health”.

Secondly, the general director of De Heus in Iberia added, “by promoting a sustainable supply chain with increasingly efficient production plants that optimise the use of energy and limit the emission of greenhouse gases, we also seek to manage the associated resources in the best way possible. For this reason, over 80 percent of the raw materials we use to make our dry foods, such as barley, wheat and sunflower oil are locally produced”.

“Contributing to the development of local economies in the countries we are present in is another of De Heus’ business priorities”, said Honoré. “To do so we have programmes for investing in the community, boosting education and supporting local entities”.

Last, but not least, “our strategy confers a central role to the satisfaction and wellbeing of our team, without whom nothing we do or achieve would be possible. In recent years, significant efforts have been made to improve the working conditions and environment, with specific measures for inclusion, reconciliation and professional development, which have made our employees the main ambassadors for the De Heus brand”, concluded the French director.