On August 2 in Ho Chi Minh City the company (FCV), which produces the Dutch Lady, Friso, Fristi, and Yomost brands, was named at the Top 50 Corporate Sustainability Awards in Vietnam.

At the award ceremony organised by Nhip Cau Dau tu, the company was extolled for two awards: the first for Responsible Consumption and Products and the second for Responsible Marketing.

These two awards are a testament to the sustainable development strategy of FCV

In 1995, as one of the first foreign investors appearing in the country, the company determined its development journey in Vietnam would follow a set mission that maximum nutrition is the most practical sustainable development path.

In that time, such a lofty mission has become a lodestar for all activities involving investment, business, and social responsibility of FCV.

Over the past five years, FrieslandCampina has partnered with leading universities and institutes in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam to conduct nutritional surveys involving over nearly 14,000 children under 12 years of age. The children were recruited from urban and rural schools, community health centres, and sub-district administrative organisations in these four countries.

The survey highlights an important issue known as the triple burden of malnutrition: the coexistence of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight/obesity. These three burdens often coexist in the same country and can even occur in the same family.

The survey also demonstrates the importance of implementing nutritional solutions, in which milk is considered an optimal nutritional source safe and suitable for economic conditions of families, and also contributes to addressing various challenges in developing children’s physical conditions and health.

In order to contribute to improving the nutrition landscape in Vietnam, FCV has made great efforts to ensure that all people can have easy access to the best nutritional products at reasonable prices.

In addition, the company has taken the lead in carrying out continuous research and improvements. For example, Dutch Lady recently made the debut of a fresh milk line with lower sugar content. This improved formula has reduced 45 per cent of sugar to only 2.1 per cent.

This is now the fresh milk line with the lowest sugar content but still maintains an appropriate fat protein content with seven crucial micronutrients that the majority of Vietnamese children are in shortage.

The Dutch Lady brand boasts high-quality products, meeting the nutritional needs of children

FCV has also been developing healthy nutrition in order to contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition to implementing the nutritional mission, Dutch Lady has become a pioneering brand name with an improved “two in one” product, with the fresh milk strengthened with suitable fat protein, contained in a brown paper carton made of bio-PE bioplastic derived from sugarcane bagasse. This is easily biodegradable, renewable, and recycled to protect the environment.

Economically and socially, FrieslandCampina has partnered with the Vietnamese Farmers’ Association to develop and carry out a programme on milk sector development since the 1990s. This initiative has connected more than 2,000 dairy cow farms throughout the country, trained over 10,000 farmers annually, and helped households improve husbandry and production skills so that milk can be produced naturally, based on a foundation of respecting the nature.

This has also helped improve rural economic conditions, develop the milk sector, and boost the development of sustainable and high-quality material areas.

Not only stopping at the mission of bringing the best nutrition to everyone, the company has also pioneered in the implementation of a responsible marketing strategy. That does not only aim at promoting products and their values to consumers, but also equipping many generations with knowledge so that each individual can choose the right source of nutrition for their health.

Typically, FCV has forged strategic cooperation with Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training to deploy electronic syllabuses in schools nationwide, equipping millions of primary school pupils with nutritional knowledge through useful lessons and flexible two-way interactions on a digital platform.

FrieslandCampina takes the lead in implementing electronic syllabuses, helping millions of primary school pupils improve their nutritional knowledge

“The company has reaped many achievements in past years. However, what is the most important is that it has won the confidence of consumers in more than 100 markets around the world,” said a FrieslandCampina representative.

“In the next journey, we will continue continuously creating fine values for Vietnam to leap forward and reach higher, and also be patient with our sustainable development path for the sake of consumers, society, and the whole planet,” he added.