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Human rights
We are committed to respecting the rights of all workers and communities across our value chain.
We are committed to respecting the rights of all workers and communities across our value chain.
We assess potential impacts, set clear expectations and collaborate to improve conditions for workers, farmers and communities connected to our ingredients.
At General Mills, we focus on the issues that are most likely to occur and take action to address and prevent them for positive social impact within and beyond our supply chains.
Our human rights approach aligns with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We use this framework to assess risk, guide our actions and strengthen how we prevent potential impacts and positively impact people across our value chain.
In 2024, General Mills partnered with LRQA, a leading global assurance partner, to re-assess our salient human rights issues, which include: forced labor, child labor, land and indigenous peoples’ rights, environmental impacts to community, freedom of association and collective bargaining, worker health and safety, livelihoods, and discrimination, abuse and harassment.
Some of the ingredients we source— including cocoa, vanilla, palm oil, seafood and sugarcane— are associated with a higher likelihood of human rights risks due to where and how they are produced. We prioritize these ingredients in our collaborative initiatives and sourcing efforts.
We apply policies and standards across our operations and supply chain, including:
These policies set the standard for labor, safety and fair treatment, and guide how we evaluate and engage suppliers.
We engage leading NGOs that work directly with communities in our sourcing regions to positively impact people and improve outcomes.
Since 2023 we’ve advanced our philanthropic partnership with Earthworm Foundation to support programs that strengthen local communities’ land rights and land tenure in key palm oil supply sheds in Brazil, Indonesia and Guatemala. In 2025 more than 2,300 farmers in Indonesia were trained on Good Agricultural Practices.
Marking 10 years of partnership in 2025, we continue our philanthropic partnership with CARE to support cocoa-growing communities in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire with financial inclusion, women’s empowerment and child protection programs. To date, we’ve supported nearly 42,000 cocoa farmers and 100,000 community members in 50 communities.
These organizations not only drive positive social impact, but they also enable us to ensure our strategy is informed by communities’ voices in the key supply sheds we depend on.
Our journey to advance human rights is one of ongoing improvement and action. Learn more about our journey by reading our Global Responsibility Report.
