Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
Blue Seal Limited
Effective date: 1st April 2024Introduction
This Modern Slavery Statement is produced for and on behalf of Blue Seal Limited (“Blue Seal”). Blue Seal is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Moffat Group Pty Limited, an Australian company which itself is part of Ali Group Srl, a company incorporated in Italy.
Blue Seal specialises in the distribution and after-sales support of food service and bakery equipment. Blue Seal employs 22 and its registered office is in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Blue Seal does not tolerate modern slavery or other human rights abuses but recognises there are risks of modern slavery in a business that has a global supply chain.
Our Purpose
Like the wider group to which it belongs, Blue Seal is dedicated to supplying high quality products and a range of value-added services and is committed to the wellbeing of our customers and employees. We seek to promote honest and ethical conduct throughout our operations and we encourage our employees, suppliers and customers to report any instances of unethical or illegal behaviour.
Our Operations and Supply Chain
Blue Seal started as branch office of Moffat Limited, a company incorporated in New Zealand. In 1997 after the Moffat Group was purchased from APV Baker Group as a management buy-out Blue Seal became incorporated and a member of the Moffat Group, In 2001 The Moffat Group became part of the Ali Group SrL based in Milano Italy
Policies
We have appropriate policies in place that underpin our commitment to addressing the risks of modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business.
Our policies reflect our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to address the risks of slavery and human trafficking taking place in our supply chains. We have the following policies in place relevant to modern slavery:
- Business to Business Terms and Conditions of Sale
- Consumer Terms of Sale of Product
https://www.blue-seal.co.uk/terms-and-customer-policies
Risks of Modern Slavery
The commercial cooking, bakery and meal distribution equipment market is not one that is viewed as being at a generally high risk of modern slavery. Nearly all the manufacturing of our products Blue Seal sells occurs in regions where we consider worker protections to be robust and well-developed. In Blue Seal’s case 95% of the products sold are sourced from a Moffat Group company in New Zealand while the remaining 5% is sourced from Ali Group companies in Europe
However, we are aware that the following areas are more likely to give rise to modern slavery risks:
- Stainless steel is the key raw material in our products which are predominantly sourced from China and Taiwan steel mills, which may be considered as generally higher-risk territories from which to source supplies.
- Castings and other components are also purchased from China.
Due diligence processes for slavery and human trafficking
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we build and maintain strong supplier relationships with reputable suppliers across our operations and all geographic locations. We are assisted in this through our affiliation with our parent company, Moffat Group purchasing team and the Ali Group purchasing team, both of which are a global companies with a strong tradition of innovation and excellence. In developing our supplier relationships, we consult with both the Moffat Group and Ali Group’s Procurement team to ensure there are robust procurement and onboarding measures in place.
We also have in place systems to:
- Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains.
- Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafflicking occurring in our supply chains.
- Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains
- Protect whistle blowers.
Planned Actions in Next Reporting Period
Following a review of the effectiveness of the steps we have taken to address the risks of slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains we intend to take the following further steps to combat slavery and human trafficking:
- Continue to ensure the suppliers used are based in countries where there is reduced risk of infringing any Modern Slavery statutes and continue to monitor compliance regardless of a supplier’s jurisdiction.
- Engage with our suppliers to ensure they are complying with modern slavery statutes in the manufacture of the products Blue Seal sells and, in particular, ensure they adhere to the Business to Business Terms and Conditions of Sale.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31st August 2023. It was approved by the board on 1st March 2024.
Group Managing Director
Blue Seal Limited
Date: 1st April 2024
