Sunflower oil shortage and substitution

The consequences of Russia invading Ukraine continue to resonate around the world and the food industry. Ukraine supplies up to 80 per cent of the UK’s sunflower oil and more than 2,500 chilled foods are now affected, with hundreds more impacted from sunflower oil-containing ingredients.

The industry is urgently looking at alternatives, such as rapeseed. CFA is engaged with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and defra on the need for derogation or flexibility on labelling. The impacts of such changes cannot be understated, with millions of labels on thousands of foods affected. CFA Director General Karin Goodburn said: “We are in a perfect storm when it comes to labelling – industrial action at a major supplier of food labels is already impacting stocks and there is no room on pre-printed labels or pack sleeves to accommodate the extra information. Rapid policy decisions are needed to ensure our members can adapt to meet these new demands being made of them.”

In order to keep food supplies flowing FSA and Food Standards Scotland are advising consumers that some food products labelled as containing sunflower oil may instead contain refined rapeseed oil. Consumer trust is a priority and FSA has looked into the food safety risk of this substitution, particularly for those with food allergies, and found it to be very low. Furthermore, the seed oil industry has no evidence of refined rapeseed oil containing any allergenic protein. However, the UK is not self-sufficient in rapeseed oil, so the use of further substitutes is being assessed.

The issue goes beyond sunflower oil. Ukraine is a huge exporter of proteins and wheat, and Russia a source of ammonium nitrate and phosphate for the fertiliser industry. Global Ukrainian grain exports in 2018 were more than 40 million tonnes, 13.6 million tonnes of which were to the EU. Losing these raw materials will result in higher prices for businesses and for consumers.

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