Iceland food producers reversing palm oil ban amid shortage of sunflower oil

KUALA LUMPUR (March 28): The sudden shortage of sunflower oil supply has forced food producers to reverse their ban on palm oil and return to this vegetable oil as their frying fat and food ingredients. Iceland supermarket, which in 2018 pledged to remove palm oil from all its own-brand foods, made the turnaround to this wonderful crop. The supermarket had banned palm oil from its own-brand foods in a stand against tropical deforestation. Iceland managing director Richard Walker reportedly expressed “huge regret” about having to row back on its pledge to remove palm oil from all of its own-brand items. “The only alternative to using palm oil under the current circumstances would simply be to clear out our freezers and shelves of a wide range of staples including potato products. “The move was 'a last resort and a strictly temporary measure' and we will only use certified sustainable palm oil as an ingredient,” he said in a report by United Kingdom daily broadsheet newspaper the ...