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[
 CONTENTS

S.No Topic Page No.

1 Introduction 6

2 Meaning of SER 6

3 Study of SER 7

4 Tools utilized 8

5 Detailed Study 8

6 Conclusion 18

7 Sources 19

 
 I.
Introduction:

Biscuits these days are considered to be the tastier and healthy snacks for children and people of
different age groups. The term Biscuit is divided into two parts ´Bisµ which means ´Twiceµ and
´Coquereµ which means ´Cookedµ in Latin. This name was derived was biscuits were cooked
twice in olden days. These tastier biscuits do not have a proper history that can be told. Though
there is no proper history it found that biscuits were invented long back in the 14th century by the
Romans. As per the Roman cookbook Apicius biscuits were made with a thick paste of wheat
flour. This paste would be spread out on a plate and let to dry. After it dries up, it is cut into pieces
and served. Earlier biscuits were so hard and therefore were called as ´Stone Breadµ. This trend
was changed by the Americans. They introduced biscuits which were soft. This is how biscuits
came into existence.

It is also said that the French also were involved in the invention of Biscuits. Though the French
had invented biscuits, it is said that the French biscuits are the worst biscuits a person can ever
taste. Now a days the most popular manufacturers of biscuits are the Americans. Their biscuits and
cookies are the best and tastier too. Biscuits today are of many shapes, types and consist of various
ingredients too. There are cream biscuits, sweet biscuits, salt biscuits, tea biscuits etc. The
advantages of biscuits are it can be easily carried during long distance travel, they are small in size
and a healthy snack.

II.
What does being Socially and Environmentally Responsible mean?

The term Socially and Environmentally Responsible means making the public aware of certain
problems in the environment and also protecting the environment from being destroyed. Some of
the ways in which a company can be socially responsible are:


Company can give funds for charities


Fund academic scholarships

Support community-building initiatives

Commitment not to pollute the environment etc.

Î
On the other hand environmentally responsible from the company·s point of view means
producing products that do not harm the environment. A company can be environmentally
responsible by


Jsing fewer resources


Jsing solar energy and wind energy

Emitting less CO2 etc.

In today·s world it is really necessary for companies to be socially and environmentally responsible.
This is so because the general public will never contribute for the well being of the earth and future
generations. But the companies are responsible for the purpose of profit and sales of their
product. Though the motive is selfish, the outcome is positive.

III.
Study of Socially and Environmentally Responsible Biscuit Brands:

This is a study to find out the brands of biscuits that are socially and environmentally responsible.
This study is done keeping in mind the welfare of the people as well as the environment. I have
focused on the Indian market and done the study. The sample size I have chosen is eight. The
reason why I selected these eight brands is because they are the top players in the biscuit market.
The brands are:

Ë
Britannia
Ë
Parle
Ë
Complan (Heinz)
Ë
Tiffany
Ë
Sunfeast (ITC)
Ë
McVities (Jnited Biscuits)
Ë
Horlicks (GlaxoSmithKline)
Ë
Cadbury OREO (Kraft Foods)

These brands are compared among themselves for the purpose of ranking the safe, healthy and
responsible product. For ranking these biscuit brands I have utilized few tools as a platform,
because without certain parameters things can never be compared and ranked.

å
IV.
Tools utilized:

Before getting into the detailed study of the products, there is a need to list out the tools used to
rank the products. The tools selected only plays an important role in the study. Without these
nothing can be done in a proper way. The tools are selected in such a way that they are related to
the topic and are very essential today. The list of tools is as follows:

Ë
CSR activity
Ë
Eco-Friendly
Ë
Jsage of Genetically Modified Products
Ë
Health and Hygiene
Ë
Packaging
Ë
Distribution
Ë
Customization

V.
Detailed study:

a)
CSR activity:

This is considered to be the most important and foremost tool. When we hear the word social and
environment responsibility, the word that strikes us is CSR activity. CSR activity can be both social
and environment related. These biscuit brands are into various CSR activities which is dealt in
detail below.

Ë
BRITANNIA:

Britannia works towards the betterment of Community and Health. Therefore they focus their
CSR activity in this segment. The CSR activity of Britannia will be as follows:

Ë
Partnership with Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and Naandi
Foundation to provide Tiger biscuits that contains iron to the children in the
Mid-Day meal program in schools.

It is supposedly said that Britannia does only one CSR activity as of now. Britannia is expected to
get themselves involve into lots of CSR activities in the near future.

ü
 Ë
PARLE:

Parle is not involved into any CSR activity. But they do have certain campaigns organized during
festive seasons. This is done for the purpose of keeping our traditions alive. Some of the
campaigns of Parle are:

Ë
Saraswati Vandana ² This programme is based on the saraswati pooja and it

takes place in the state of West Bengal. It is being done for the purpose of
developing the creative skills in children wherein they can showcase any of their
talents.
Ë
Golu Galatta ² This is an event that happens in the state of Tamil Nadu. Parle
has taken the initiative to award the house that has been decorated wonderfully
with dolls. This is done keeping in mind the fading tradition of Golu in Tamil
Nadu.
Ë
My Green Planet ² This is another initiative by Parle for the purpose of
keeping the planet neat and green.

Ë
CADBJRY OREO:

Cadbury is not an Indian company. But they too are doing little CSR activity for the well being of
the state where their factory is located. These are the activities they perform.

Ë
Dam construction ² This is done for the purpose of storing rain water. They
only use the rain water that has been collected in the dam and not the outside
water for their manufacturing process. This dam has been constructed in
Bangalore.
Ë
Cocoa Cultivation ² Jnlike other companies, Cadbury has its own cocoa
cultivation farm which has been set up in the year 1974. This reduces the
export cost for them as they need not export cocoa from other countries. Since
cocoa is self cultivated it is hygiene.
Ë
Installation of Solar Streetlights ² In the city of Bangalore where lots of energy
is being consumed, Cadbury has installed 28 solar streetlights. This will save
energy as only the energy from the sun is used here.

˜
 Ë
SJNFEAST:

Sunfeast is a product of ITC. It is well known that ITC is involved into lots of CSR activities. They
not only focus on the community, but their focus is also on the environment. Towards the
environment they:

Ë
Have been ´Carbon Positiveµ

Ë
Have been ´Water Positiveµ
Ë
Have 100% solid waste recycling
Ë
Perform all activities related to environment, health and safety according to the
best international standards

Towards the society they:

Ë
Have generated livelihoods for 5 million people

Ë
Have taken e-choupal initiative by educating the farmers about internet which
has benefitted 4 million farmer families
Ë
Developed a Watershed initiative that brings rain water to about 35,000
hectares of dry lands and moisture stressed areas
Ë
Work towards the empowerment of women
Ë
Provide primary education to the children in the backward villages
Ë
Help in livestock development by making the farmers and owners of the cattle
aware of the cattle health and various other things
Ë
Also do social and farm forestry

In this way different companies do different CSR activities. There are biscuit brands that are not at
all involved in any CSR activity. They are Tiger biscuits by Kraft Foods, McVities by Jnited
Biscuits, Horlicks by GlaxoSmithKline, Complan by Heinz and Tiffany. So they cannot be
rewarded any points. This can be clear from the ranking table:

c

 Biscuit Brand Ranking % on CSR
Britannia 3 3.4% on 3401.4cr (Revenue)
Parle 0 Not Available
Sunfeast 1 16% of 8000cr (Revenue)
Cadbury Oreo 2 Not Available
McVities 0 Not Available
Horlicks 0 Not Available
Complan 0 Not Available
Tiffany 0 Not Available

The ranking given above are based on the CSR activity and the amount spent from their revenue.
In the case the revenues are available only the CSR activity is considered because more the CSR
activity more amount will be spent for it.

b)
Eco-Friendly:

Jnder this head, a company needs to be friendly with the people and also the environment. That
is they must produce goods that cause no harm at all. Here companies are said to be Eco-Friendly
if they

u
Are able to reduce Carbon dioxide emission

u
Reduce water wastage
u
Jse less electrical energy and more solar, wind energy
u
Recycle the waste
u
Jse renewable resources for their production purposes
u
Minimize the packaging waste and
u
Make use of environment friendly vehicles

cc
The ranking are:

It is found that Sunfeast does most of the activities that are mentioned above. While brands like
Britannia and others are not so eco-friendly as they have a lots of problems relating to the
ingredients they use and also towards the environment which will be explained later below.

c)
Jsage of Genetically Modified Products:

The usage of GM food products in the snacks produced by the biscuit companies have become a
serious issue these days. To identify this, there is a Non-profit organization named ´Greenpeaceµ
which looks into problems related to the environment and human health. Their main objective is

cx
to protect the environment and human lives from dangerous products. Not only this, they also
work towards bringing these cunning activities to the light.

Here the Greenpeace has selected few food companies and asked them for a report stating
whether they are using GM food in their products or not. But very few companies had responded
to it. They have segregated the companies as:

Green Companies ² These are the companies that do not use GM products in their
biscuits.

Red Companies ² These are the companies that use GM products in their biscuits.

The brands of biscuits placed in the Green list are:

These biscuit are safe to eat as they do not have GM food products.

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The following are the brands that are considered to be dangerous for our health:

According to Greenpeace, it is really very unsafe to buy products of Britannia. They are the large
users of Genetically Modified Products in their biscuits. The remaining brands are not rated
because they have publicly accepted saying that if not now, they will be using GM food products in
the future.

d)
Health and Hygiene:

When it comes to food products, health and hygiene is something important that is to be noted. If
the food is healthy and hygienic, it will gain more points when ranking. Not only this is to be
considered, but also the ingredients used in the biscuits should be considered. All the brands of
biscuits aim at producing healthy and hygiene biscuits. For the purpose of producing healthy
products some companies add ingredients that are harmful for our health. This tool is somewhat
related to using GM products. So, the results of the previous tool can be applied here. It is
suggested to avoid purchasing Britannia biscuits. The brand that I would prefer in case of health
and hygiene would be:

c[
 e)
Packaging:

The reason why I chose packaging as a tool is because biscuits need to safely packed and
transported. When it is packed if the packing is not proper they may get spoilt. Jnder packaging
each brand follows different types of techniques. Let us talk about each brand separately.


Britannia and Parle:

In the case of Britannia and Parle, both use same kind of packaging techniques. They can be said
as follows:

Ë
Custom packaging ² Here the packaging will be done depending on the shipment.
If the biscuits are to be delivered locally, then the package used will be different
from what will be used when exported.
Ë
Eco-Friendly ² The package covers used by these two brands are not harmful to the
environment as they use recycled covers.
Ë
Bio-degradable ² The material used for packing is bio-degradable and can be easily
decomposed in the soil. This does not cause any harm to the environment like that
of plastic bags.
Ë
Moisture proof ² The package used by them are moisture proof. This is something
very essential as, if the biscuits get moisturized then they·ll get soften and spoiled.
This will have a bad impact on the brands.

c 
 Ë
Flat packing ² This type of packing is used so that the biscuit packages do not
occupy much space while transporting them. It is also possible to transport a huge
quantity of goods in one go itself.
Ë
License ² Regarding packing, it is necessary for companies to get license such as
QS, ISO 9001:2000 etc. This license is given to companies who does packaging
without affecting the environment and harming the food inside packages.


Sunfeast:

The methods adopted by Sunfeast for packing their biscuits are as follows:

Ë
Green packing ² This packing involves the usage of raw material from
sustainable sources and conversion of the same in a facility which is 100%
powered by renewable energy (Wind Energy).
Ë
Coated paperboard packing ² It is a kind of packing technique wherein the
company coats the recycled cover with some chemical and uses it.
Ë
License ² Sunfeast has also got license from ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and
OSHAS 18001 for the purpose of proper packing.

The result for packaging can be:

Though Britannia and Parle are taking lots of steps for proper packing, Sunfeast has made it clear
that they only pack using recycled material. No matter whatever purpose it is. Therefore it is given
the highest rank than the other two brands.

cÎ
 f)
Distribution:

The distribution process is almost same for all the brands. As mentioned above regarding packing.
Since flat boxes are used, a large quantity can transported at a time. This reduces the usage of
petroleum and number of trips for the vehicles. The biscuits are distributed to the wholesaler. The
brands having proper distribution channel and are socially responsible too will be:

g)
Customization:

This means producing biscuits keeping in mind the needs and likes of the consumers. In this case
Britannia leads the market by producing biscuits for various categories of people. They even have
biscuits for diabetic people. When producing biscuits they do a survey to know the tastes and
preference of the people over there. After doing all these, they start manufacturing and use the
ingredients accordingly. The best customized brand of biscuit will be:

cå
VI.
Conclusion:

In the current scenario it is not possible for the people to know about the biscuits that are
healthier. It is also not feasible to know which brand is more socially and environmentally
responsible. Therefore a study has been made and a conclusion has been arrived at wherein the
best brand of biscuit that is being socially and environmentally responsible is found. From the table
given below, conclusion can be arrived.

Tools used for ranking Best Brand

CSR activity

Eco-Friendly

Jse of GM products

Health and Hygiene

Packaging

Distribution

Customization

cü
It is very clear that Sunfeast a product of ITC has topped among the other entire brand. The
reason why Sunfeast biscuits have topped the table is, because of its non usage of GM products
and also because it is more socially and environmentally responsible than other brands. This
ranking can again be divided on the basis of health and tastiness. When it comes to health, my
choice will always be Sunfeast. On the other hand when it comes to variety and tastiness, it can be
Britannia or Parle as both are equally good.

So, as my personal conclusion I would suggest all of you people to buy Sunfeast and contribute a
part for saving the planet.

VII.
Sources:

6
http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/biscuits/index.php3
6
http://www.foodreference.com/html/a-biscuit-history-1008.html
6
http://www.britannia.co.in/history.htm
6
http://www.parleproducts.com/csr/golu_galata.php
6
http://dev2.previewbox.co.uk/data/file/2009%20Environmental%20update.pdf
6
http://www.kraftfoodscompany.com/Responsibility/index.aspx
6
http://www.itcportal.com/sustainability/lets-put-india-first/default.aspx
6
http://www.itcportal.com/itc-business/paperboards-and-packaging/packaging.aspx
6
http://www.karmayog.org/csr2009/csr2009_29279.htm
6
http://www.karmayog.org/redirect/strred.asp?docId=29464
6
http://www.slideshare.net/paddyfly/c-s-r-presentation-presentation

c˜