AAK imports first supplies of sustainable palm oil

AAK has become the first European company to supply sustainably produced palm oil into the UK.

The speciality oils and fats manufacturer, which supplies brands including Prep cooking oil, has taken delivery of the first shipment from Malaysia at its Hull refinery.

Palm oil is the UK's most popular commercial frying oil but has been the focus of environmental concerns over deforestation and loss of habvitat for species such as orang-utans.

The oil imported by AAK has been produced by United Plantations (UP) after being audited against rigorous new sustainability criteria.

"The arrival of our first shipment of sustainably produced palm oil is an important milestone," said Judith Murdoch, marketing manager of AAK. "It means, for the first time, our customers have the opportunity to purchase palm oil which has been independently verified as having been sustainably produced."

AAK has also been working to develop GreenPalm, a certificate trading scheme designed to promote the sustainable production of palm oil.

The scheme enables those who are unable to buy sustainably produced palm oil due to supply chain restrictions, to support sustainable production by buying GreenPalm certificates from producers who have passed sustainability audits. More information can be found at: www.greenpalm.org