Our partners

Mushrooms are one of the most popular fresh produce items with over 1.5 billion portions of them sold each year in the UK. Conventional mushroom crop production currently relies on the use of peat, a precious carbon-rich natural resource that takes thousands of years to grow in wetland ecosystems.

Following a decade of research and development with our long-term supplier Monaghan, Sainsbury’s became the first UK supermarket to launch conventional mushrooms that have been grown without peat. This significant change to the growth process reduces the carbon intensity of mushroom production, leaving peat in the ground, which will help protect nature and get us one step closer to our Net Zero goals.

Higher animal welfare is a top priority for us, for our suppliers and for our customers and our approach to animal health and welfare frequently exceeds established best practice in our sector.

We are continually working to improve welfare in our supply chains and our 10-year partnership with Moy Park, our trusted poultry supplier, is a great example of that. Through this partnership, we were the first retailer of scale to make a move which gives our birds 20 per cent more space than the industry standard. This initiative has led to improved health and welfare quality for around 100 million chickens, with other retailers following our lead.

And because the chickens moving through our entire supply chain are healthier, food waste has reduced by 35 per cent, and supply chain efficiencies have led to a saving of over 4,000 tonnes of carbon since 2023.

We have done all of this while protecting value for our customers, with our price position on chicken as sharp as ever, and as a result out chicken market share has increased since launch. 

This year we also launched the Sainsbury’s Egg Group in collaboration with our egg farmers. A UK first, the Group aims to provide financial stability, encourage investment, enhance animal welfare and reduce carbon.

And this work extends beyond our chicken supply chain, with a large portion of our fresh products now in long-term arrangements as we strive to work in collaboration with our suppliers on new and emerging methods of production and with new technologies. As a result, we’re ensuring better surety of supply and are working towards achieving our Plan for Better targets.

Many of our products, like tea, coffee and bananas, come from regions facing climate challenges and economic pressures. Supporting the people who grow them, while protecting the planet, is not always easy. It requires new approaches, long-term committed partnership and collaboration across the system that drive meaningful change.

Our 20-year partnership with Fairtrade is a great example. Together, we have delivered lasting impacts for the communities we source from by supporting livelihoods and strengthening supply chains. We were the first UK retailer to act on closing the living wage gap in the banana industry, three years ahead of the industry commitment, working with Fairtrade and Fyffes.

In 2025, we converted all by Sainsbury’s black tea to Fairtrade, boosting the Fairtrade Premium to over £1 million annually. We’re also co-developing an innovative initiative with Fairtrade and over 50 producers across tea, coffee and bananas that will ensure the benefits of Fairtrade drive long lasting positive impacts to communities.

Working closely with our suppliers, we build strong, long-term partnerships that help make our food systems more resilient and sustainable. We source more than £2 billion worth of British produce every year supporting local growers, farmers and producers across the country. 

Many of our customers want to support British suppliers and make more conscious choices when doing their food shop. This is why we launched our new Best of British webpage in 2024, the first major supermarket to make the addition. 

This section of our site makes it easy for shoppers to access a curation of over 450 quality products which are 100% locally sourced.