Origin Story

Today’s botanical supply chains are varied and complex. They range from controlled cultivation in established agricultural settings, to smallholder and wild harvested material collected by small groups across the globe.

This complexity presents some unique challenges, especially when having to source numerous species of plants from multiple origins. Having clarity on where raw materials originate is essential to any business and having insight into the entire supply chain - from cup to field - is critical in understanding risk as a business and being able to affect positive change.

Long gone are the days where taking just one step back in the supply chain was acceptable. Food safety, food fraud, social and environment issues all drive the need to have greater understanding and control over traceability. This means drilling down into the supply chain, understanding where exactly the material originates from, controlling batch sizes and ensuring transparency of the end-to-end supply chain.

Traceability for Twinings is twofold: fundamentally we must ensure transparency back to the grower for food safety and legal compliance and equally we want to understand our social and environmental impact with the aim of having a positive influence. We look for smart ways to incorporate traceability and transparency into our quality systems. Our Sourced with Care programme drills down into living standards, life opportunities, land and livelihoods.

Our work with Finlays Botanicals in Kenya is a great example of a partnership with a strategic supplier bringing real benefits. Through Finlays, we can have direct links back to the fields in which material is grown, ensuring good agricultural practices are in place. We can understand the communities and the conditions under which it has been produced and, in partnership with the Finlays team, we can influence what is cultivated.

This type of partnership, in which we are collaborating and having open dialogue on where and how products are grown, aligns to our core values of responsibility, excellence and innovation, making it a great fit with our sourcing objectives.

The wider opportunities are vast. With such complex supply chains and a huge portfolio of botanical materials across multiple sectors (herb, fruit and spice), having traceable and transparent sources is a major advantage for producers of botanicals, as it is essential for brands to understand their supply chains.

The technical challenge going forward is understanding how we most efficiently and effectively collect and analyse the large data sets from our key supply chains whilst ensuring data integrity and confidentiality. The use of barcoding, supplier portals and electronic data interchange and, further into the future, blockchain, will be critical to make the process as efficient as possible. These technologies will allow quick data interrogation and analysis in the event of a supply chain issue and to help measure progress against strategic social impact and environmental goals.

Having robust data, traceability and transparency will ultimately allow us to bring our supply chains to life for our consumers, telling our stories and sharing our passion for the botanical industry and the wonderful aromas and tastes from around the world.

Andrew Whittingham is International Herbs Manager at Twinings