Regarding the use of palm oil, It's a great question.
As for the use of it in our products it's a bit of a roundabout answer, yes we do but but if you stick with me through this, I can provide some information about how we use the best type, sustainable and certified - We are mindful about the use of it and one of our ingredients does in the supply chain use a derivative of palm oil, however, the palm oil that has been used is RSPO Supply Chain Certified.
So, as you may or may not know Palm oil is the lowest cost most widely produced vegetable oil on earth. It is the highest yielding oil meaning that it requires less land to produce than any other vegetable oil. It has many unique properties that can’t be replicated by other vegetable oils.
Sustainability certification of Palm Oil and it’s derivatives is a work in progress. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is the leading certification body. They have developed a set of environmental and social criteria with which companies must comply with in order to produce Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO).
Derivatives of Palm oil can be certified by RSPO subject to supply chain requirements
There are three types of supply chain mechanisms that pertain to ingredients. These relate to the different ways in which the palm is grown and the oil extracted and traded.
In some places, Palm oil is obtained from large plantations that are managed by large corporates and extracted and sold by them. In other regions, it is produced by small family groups and combined with many other producers for on-going sale and processing. This precludes traceability from end product back to the individual farm.
The three supply chain mechanisms are Fully segregated, Mass Balance and Book and Claim and allow certification for different harvest and processing models. More details on what these mean and more general information is available from the RSPO website.
As, with all of our ingredients we have had to adhere to really strict guidelines which means that we have sourced all the supply and processing material documentation for every one of our ingredients, and had them checked by the certification body that provides us with our natural certification.