What makes our groceries special?
Fish only from responsible fishing
By signing the Charter for sustainable fishing we made a commitment that by 2015 we will be selling fish and fish products originating only from responsible fishing. It is a special method of fishing that guarantees that no dolphins, turtles, sharks, seals, whales or seabirds will get caught in fishing nets. Statistical data obtained up to the present show a sad fact – up to 70 % of caught fauna is thrown back into the sea as “discard”, either dead or dying. For that reason, we have developed new nets and fishing technologies in cooperation with fishermen to ensure that fishing is more considerate and humane.
Our groceries contain only free-range eggs
We demand that the chicken breeders with whom we cooperate meet strict standards of breeding. 100 % of eggs contained in our groceries originate from free-range productions.
Without artificial colouring and flavouring agents
By eliminating all artificial colouring agents we want to offer you a nutritionally balanced food of a delicious taste without additives, flavouring and colouring agents, and at the same time, we want to distinguish ourselves from current industrial manufacturing standards. We also replaced solidified fats with healthier vegetable oils.
We constantly reduce the content of salt, sugar and fats
In our grocery assortment you will find a varied selection of food that not only tastes great, but also is nutritionally balanced. The sunflower logo “Eat Well” marks the products that contain a balanced amount of sugars, fats and salts. We constantly reduce the content of sugars, salts as well as a proportion of saturated fats in all food we sell. Our offer also includes the products marked “no added sugar” with zero added sugar. Even the fans of organic food will find what they like. The certification “Organic” by the British organisation Soil Associations guarantees that the raw materials used had been grown without any chemical treatment.
Our wines are exclusive
We offer only exclusive brands from our own winegrowers. We carefully select our winegrowers and suppliers. We cooperate with true wine connoisseurs and qualified experts. Many winegrowers pass on their family treasure – their excellent vineyards – from generation to generation, and owing to their knowledge gained and procedures tested through many years of experience they produce only the very best quality. Apart from the suppliers from France we also cooperate with winegrowers from Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Spain, Italy, or Portugal. All our winegrowers try to approach wine production responsibly – they are considerate towards the environment and try to produce organic wines. Each wine has a clear origin and every winegrower guarantees its quality.
Only Fairtrade tea and coffee
The idea lying behind the whole concept of Fairtrade products is based particularly on building fair relationships between the suppliers from Africa and other disadvantaged areas and selected retail chains that want to take part in providing help to other farmers. We are one of them. We offer only Fairtrade tea and coffee. The proceeds from their sale have been used to finance new healthcare centres, road construction and equipment for schools in countries such as Ethiopia, Honduras, Sumatra, Peru, and help has been provided to thousands of farmers all over the world by means of investments in their communities.
Meals from all over the world prepared in a few minutes
Sometimes we simply do not have time to spend the whole day in the kitchen preparing tasty delicacies and specialties. However, that does not mean that we should not treat ourselves to them. That is why we accommodate to your needs and offer you a wide range of frozen meals “Chilled to Frozen”. You can choose from a wide offer of meals from every corner of the world. Our meals are prepared from fresh ingredients and do not contain any preserving or added colouring agents. So you can be sure that even if you go for quickly prepared meals that usually aren’t the healthiest ones, with our meals you are not sinning against your health!
Quality of life of animals
Because 100 % of products we sell are products of our own brand, we can apply guidelines for the quality of life of animals to all grocery products that we offer. Our long-term effort to ensure an improved quality of life of farm animals has been acknowledged by leading organisations promoting animal welfare, such as RSCPA and Compassion in World Farming (CIWF). Due to the fact that we have a leading position in setting standards and principles for quality of life of farm animals, in 2008 CIWF granted us the title Compassionate Supermarket.
We closely cooperate with our suppliers to ensure that they are using high standards for welfare, quality of life and living conditions of the animals they breed.
Our principles for the quality of life of animals are based on recommendations of the British organisation Farm Animal Welfare Council, among which belong the following Five Freedoms.
Our animals have:
• Freedom from thirst and hunger
• Freedom from discomfort
• Freedom from pain, injury, and disease
• Freedom to express normal behavior
• Freedom from fear and distress
We realise that health and quality of life of animals are closely interconnected; always when the need arises, we provide a suitable veterinary care to our animals – however, we always use only such medications that are absolutely necessary for ensuring a good health and high quality of life. In cooperation with professionals we examine the monitoring methods for our breeding systems, so that we could gradually reduce the amounts of used medications in the future. We have banned adding antibiotics for growth promotion into animal feed for the animals used in our products even before EU passed legislation banning their use in animal feed.
We know exactly from where our animals originate and what they had been fed. We are making sure they are being fed a suitable, safe and nourishing feed. Cattle fodder must not contain meat, bone flour or other banned ingredients. Moreover, we have removed all ingredients containing genetically modified soybeans and corn from the feed for our animals that give fresh beef, pork, lamb, chicken and turkey meat, eggs and fresh milk, as well as from the feed for our breeding salmon.
Up to 12 kinds of rice in our offer
In our offer you can find various kinds of rice suitable for preparation of a cosmopolitan cuisine. A mixture of long-grain and wild rice will add colour and distinctiveness to your meals. This combination of regular rice with seeds of North America grass is excellent with boiled or stewed meat. A very specific kind of rice is long-grain aromatic Basmati rice, for its qualities also called “the queen of rice”, which you can get also in an organic quality at our stores. Moreover, our offer includes jasmine rice, a very popular kind of rice in China. When its grains are boiled, you can smell a natural and characteristic smell of jasmine. For preparation of an Italian risotto you need a special kind of rice – rice for an Italian risotto, which cannot be omitted from our offer. Another interesting kind is pudding rice – it has short starchy grains and it is most suitable for preparation of rice puddings, gruels as well as cakes.
