News

This article, by one of our Food Authenticity Centres of Expertise, summaries the potential problems to the food supply chain to Western Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine, and in particular, the effects of exports from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

Ukraine is a major exporter of cereals especially wheat, sunflower oil, soyabean oil, soyabeans and soyabean cake, honey and dried pulses and legumes.

Russia is a major exporter of fish, cereals, sunflower oil and poultrymeat.

An assessment of impact and risks is given by commodity type.

Read the article here.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) are today advising consumers that some food products labelled as containing sunflower oil may instead contain refined rapeseed oil. This is happening to maintain the supply of certain food products containing ingredients that have become increasingly difficult to source because of the conflict in Ukraine.

The majority of the UK’s sunflower oil comes from Ukraine and food businesses here are reporting that supplies of sunflower oil are likely to run out in a few weeks with some businesses already experiencing severe difficulties.

This has led to some food manufacturers urgently replacing sunflower oil with refined rapeseed oil before being able to make the change on the label. We are therefore advising that food products labelled as containing sunflower oil may instead have been produced using refined rapeseed oil and consumers should look out for additional information being provided by retailers and manufacturers  to stay informed.

The FSA and FSS have published the rapid risk assessment into the substitution of sunflower oil with refined rapeseed oil as part of their commitment to making public the science and evidence underpinning their advice and guidance. 

Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash