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supermarket chain Iceland has moved to ban palm oil from all of the company’s own-brand
products.
The ban
Palm oil –
which was previously used in roughly half the chain’s products – is the source
of significant controversy due to its impact on both animals and the
environment.
Greenpeace
brought said impacts to the attention of Iceland, helping to spark the ban.
Iceland’s Managing Director Richard Walker has since said there’s ‘no such thing’ as sustainable palm oil.
Destruction
Walker personally visited Indonesia – the world’s top palm oil producer – to investigate the industry, and see the
destruction it causes first hand.
He told The
Grocer: “The journey
has shown me that, currently, no major supermarket or food manufacturer can
substantiate any claim that the palm oil they use is truly sustainable, as the
damage being caused to the global environment and communities in Southeast Asia
is just too extensive.”
‘Right
thing to do’
Walker said
also that Iceland is ‘giving consumers a chance to say no to palm oil’ despite
an increase in cost for the company simply because ‘it’s the right thing to do’.
Iceland is
set to remove palm oil from 130 products by year’s end, and plans to keep palm
oil out of its products, barring major change in the industry.
