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Sedex begins 2026 with its flagship social audit methodology, SMETA 7, formally recognised by The Consumer Goods Forum’s initiative
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London / Chicago, Jan. 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sedex enters 2026 with its flagship social audit, SMETA 7, formally recognised by the Consumer Goods Forum’s Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI) after completing the SSCI Benchmarking Process.
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SSCI Recognition strengthens Sedex and SMETA’s roles in driving sustainable business practices at scale. For businesses, it means greater confidence in audit findings and a trusted foundation for ethical sourcing strategies. As global supply chains face increasing scrutiny, reliable tools like SMETA 7 are essential for meeting due diligence obligations, managing risk and advancing positive impact across industries.
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With over 60,000 in-person audits conducted yearly, SMETA remains the world’s most widely used social audit to assess labour, health and safety, environmental, and business ethics risks at supply chain worksites.
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This recognition under both the Processing & Manufacturing and Primary Production SSCI scopes confirms SMETA’s alignment with the SSCI Social Compliance Benchmark, reinforcing its credibility and value for companies seeking robust due diligence solutions.
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Why SSCI Recognition matters
The SSCI, an industry solution of The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), benchmarks and recognises auditing, monitoring and certification programmes that meet industry expectations for sustainability and ethical practices. By “verifying the verifiers,” SSCI provides an additional layer of trust, enabling businesses to make more informed sourcing decisions.
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For Sedex’s customers, SSCI Recognition provides:
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- Independent validation: Third-party assurance of SMETA’s robustness, credibility and reliability.
- Industry alignment: Confidence that SMETA meets evolving global standards and regulatory requirements.
- Enhanced transparency: The SSCI Benchmarking Process included a public consultation and external expert review.
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Launched in October 2024, SMETA 7.0 represents the most comprehensive evolution of Sedex’s audit methodology in years. Key enhancements focused on improving critical issue detection (e.g. living wages, recruitment fees), facilitating more proactive risk and management gap identification, and clearer expectations for workplace conditions.
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Further improvements made during the SSCI benchmarking process strengthened requirements around human rights training and documentation, expanded guidance on forced and child labour, and clarified chemical usage standards.
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Jon Hancock, Chief Executive Officer of Sedex, comments:
“I’m so pleased that SMETA 7.0 has achieved this major milestone. The Consumer Goods Forum’s SSCI is a highly respected initiative that confers significant credibility on the schemes within this community. Being SSCI-Recognised provides our customers and other stakeholders with powerful, independent validation of SMETA’s rigour and comprehensiveness. We’re proud our solutions empower businesses to drive transparency, continuous improvement and responsible sourcing worldwide.”
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