Palm oil

After converting the palm oil used in our rich tea and digestive biscuits to RSPO-certified sustainable sources, we naturally turned our attention to the rest of the biscuit category. By the end of July 2011 we will have launched a further 17 biscuit lines containing sustainable palm oil, including savoury biscuits such as cream crackers. This will mean that we have a total of 28 biscuit lines containing sustainable palm oil.

Moving to sustainable palm oil ingredients is not necessarily a straightforward process and takes time. Palm oil is rarely used in its simplest form: more often than not it is processed and incorporated into as many as six ingredients of a product, with many of those ingredients not available as certified sustainable yet. At Sainsbury's we are taking a collaborative approach, working with all members of the palm oil supply chain to help move the key palm-oil-based ingredients we use to certified sustainable sources. Within the biscuit category, we are making huge progress by launching new lines containing sustainable palm oil, and are working hard on the few products where certified ingredients aren't yet available.