Iceland is First UK Retailer to Remove Palm Oil from its Products

Frozen food firm Iceland is set to become the first UK supermarket to eliminate the use of palm oil from its own brand products in efforts to minimise the negative impact of its cultivation, according to a FoodNavigator.com news report this week.  The retailers revealed immediate plans to remove the ingredient from half of the food from its own-label products.  “Until Iceland can guarantee palm oil is not causing rainforest destruction, we are simply saying ‘no palm oil’”, said Richard Walker, Iceland’s managing director.

By the end of the year, Iceland said it would reformulate 130 food products to remove palm oil across its 900 stores reducing its demand by more than 500 tons per year.  The company said it would replace palm oil with oils and fats that “do not destroy the rainforest”, adding its work with suppliers would ensure recipe changes did not impact product cost or taste.  Products subject to this treatment would display a ‘no palm oil’ sticker on its packaging.