In case you missed it, Food Navigator Asia highlighted the work of Palm Oil Monitor in exposing plans to restrict palm oil imports by the UK’s Environment Ministry and Malaysia’s decision to Walkback a unified producer position on 3-MCPD.
To read, click here: Palm oil crisis: ASEAN’s largest agri export shaken by risk of UK rule changes and ‘backstabbing’ by Malaysia
In the last month, Palm Oil Monitor has exposed DEFRA’s secret effort to leverage the Covid-19 crisis to undertake a ‘Write-Around Process’ that would restrict palm oil imports into the UK, placing the burden on importers and adding additional costs. DEFRA’s plans are based around introducing a Due Diligence requirement for companies seeking to import palm oil for use in the UK. This would be based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standard for due diligence, which is used when assessing suppliers for environmental impacts.
The Palm Oil Monitor also provided a comprehensive analysis on Malaysia’s decision to Walkback a unified 3-MCPD decision. A leaked letter from Malaysia’s Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities indicated Malaysia had decided to walkback a unified position on 3-MCPD esters held by the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC). POM believes this is quite problematic. The European Commission is considering introducing limits to the presence of 3-MCPD in vegetable oils. It has set one limit for palm oil, which is higher than the limit set for all other vegetable oils, on supposed health grounds. This would create two-levels for vegetable oils in Europe: ‘High 3-MCPD’ vs ‘Low 3-MCPD’ could now become a distinction in the European marketplace that can be exploited by other foodstuff makers. Sound familiar? Think ‘High-Risk, Low-Risk’ ILUC for palm oil biofuels. Now translate that into food term, but with 3-MCPD instead of ILUC. This is what makes the Malaysian Walkback from the CPOPC consensus so baffling to POM.
Read the full Food Navigator Asia story, here