Spain: The industry takes another look at palm oil after years of demonization

The agri-food industry has become interested in palm oil again due to the shortage of sunflower oil due to the war in Ukraine, after a few years in which it has tended to eliminate it due to its amount of saturated fats and the environmental problems associated with its production. Palm oil is one of the most consumed fats in the world, present in many of the processed products, from margarines to pizzas through chips, cookies, creams, chocolates and even ice creams, although in countries like Spain it is not It is sold bottled. However, it contains saturated fatty acids that are harmful to health, which, together with the problems of deforestation that it generates in the countries from which it comes, mainly in tropical Asia, has caused a movement against it that even led to that in 2017 several supermarket chains asked manufacturers to eliminate it. Sunflower oil was one of the alternatives, but the Russian invasion has left Spain without the 500,000 tons of this fat that it ...