Bakery fats now include RSPO-certified palm oil
AAK has also committed to supplying sustainable stearin within its bakery blends from 2012/13.
This is the latest sustainability milestone for AAK. The firm co-founded the RSPO in 2003 and imported Europe's first shipment of certified sustainable palm oil into its refinery in Hull in 2008.
However, the company is warning businesses that want to make on-pack claims about ethical sourcing that simply buying RSPO-certified palm oil is not enough.
"There are strict rules about making such claims, in order to maintain the integrity of the system," said AAK UK md Martin Craven. "All parties of the supply chain must be RSPO members and their equipment and operations approved by the RSPO.
"In many cases especially for manufacturers that use palm blends or derivatives or palm kernel oil there is not a suitable sustainable option, so companies can choose instead to cover their use of palm products with GreenPalm certificates.
This option is endorsed by the RSPO as a genuine means of incentivising the use of RSPO-certified production methods and rewarding producers that are working without doing any harm to people, animals or the environment."
