Palm oil in the spotlight

By: Dean Best - 28 October 2009 15:34

Today's (28 October) publication of the WWF "palm oil scorecard" has revealed that, while the likes of Sainsbury's, M&S, Unilever and Cadbury are making progress on sustainable sourcing, there are dozens of other companies where a lot more work is needed.

Or, as the green campaigners put it this morning, where some need to "up their game".

The structure of the palm oil supply chain and cost of sustainable sourcing are frequently held up as two obstacles by food manufacturers and retailers that have yet to makes changes to the way they buy palm oil.

However, as Adam Harrison, the WWF's senior policy officer for food and agriculture told just-food this afternoon, cost should not be an insurmountable barrier, while there are ways to resolve supply chain issues - and he pointed to the GreenPalm certificates recently embraced by M&S in the UK.

just-food will be running a full-length interview with Harrison tomorrow. Palm oil is high on the sustainability agenda and, with the annual Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil being held in Malaysia next week, it is an issue that needs to be faced head on by all in the sector.