Social initiatives are permanent at Pif Paf Alimentos and have just received yet another recognition. The company won the Bronze Plaque at the CMVC Award for good practices in volunteering 2021 : Conexões que Inspiram, promoted by the Minas Gerais Committee for Corporate Volunteering . The   winning case was the Mendes Costa Foundation (FMC) project , a non-profit institution created 27 years ago, with the objective of coordinating the Group’s social responsibility actions. Since its foundation, the entity has developed several programs in order to promote social empowerment and improve the quality of life of thousands of people, especially in the municipalities where Pif Paf is located.

Between 2020 and 2021, its main focus was to contribute to minimizing the impacts of the new coronavirus pandemic, by strengthening the volunteer program (Pif Paf Solidária), including distance projects, at first, in addition to supporting the Plan Contingency Plan related to Covid-19. “Solidarity and social responsibility are important guidelines for our business and are increasingly integrated into the organizational culture. Through them, we seek a sustainable future”, highlights Maria Paula Simão Brancatelli, vice president of People, Management and Sustainability.

She notes that, with the pandemic, the institution had to reinvent itself in order to maintain its operations, but no program was interrupted, and new ones were created. Pif Paf Solidária – which encourages employees to donate their time to do good, by releasing them from work, for four hours a month, to practice citizenship and solidarity – is one of the highlights. Currently, it has more than 1,700 volunteers, around 130 institutions assisted by approximately 370 actions carried out. In all, more than 30,000 people benefited from the program.

There are also initiatives to promote education, culture and sports, contributing to local development. For example, the Foundation maintains the Maria Adelaide Mendes Costa School, located within two Pif Paf units, which has already trained, free of charge, more than 1,100 professionals in Elementary and High Schools and in IT courses. They are company employees who had not had the chance to complete their studies. It also welcomes hundreds of children and young people in situations of social vulnerability, with the Citizen of the Future Project. Until today, there were more than 600 calls. In 2021, FMC created the Inspirar Program, a solidarity-based guidance initiative that promotes the development of young people at the beginning of their careers, through guidance and experiences shared by volunteer employees.

the award

In its first edition, the CMVC Award intends to recognize and value efforts in favor of good corporate volunteering practices, which, thanks to the involvement of people with different knowledge and experiences, encourage solidarity. It was conceived by CDM (Cooperation for Development and Human Housing), a non-profit NGO with 35 years of experience in managing social programs and corporate volunteering, headquartered in Belo Horizonte (MG). The Minas Gerais Corporate Volunteering Committee (CMVC) was created by CDM six years ago.

About Rio Branco Alimentos

With corporate headquarters in Belo Horizonte (MG), Rio Branco Alimentos, the largest meatpacking company in Minas Gerais, operates in vertical production chains for poultry and pork, and is one of the largest national companies in the food sector. It owns the brands Pif Paf, Fricasa, Ladelli, Club V, Uniaves, Flip, Rio Branco, Pescanobre and Tial. At 53 years old, the company has 14 industrial units, dedicated to the production, slaughter and processing of chickens and swine, distributed among the states of Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Goiás and Santa Catarina. Its mix includes more than 900 items, such as meat, fish, sausages, pasta, ready-to-eat dishes, cheese bread, among others.