The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) has slammed Senator Nick Xenophon for suggesting that labelling palm oil as vegetable oil is misleading Australian consumers.
Palm oil is, in fact, a vegetable oil just like soya bean, corn rapeseed oils which are widely used in manufactured food products, AFGC highlighted.
Kate Carnell, AFGC chief executive, said food labels need to be easy to comprehend and should only contain important product information relating to health, nutrition and safety.
“Food labels should not be used as a battleground for issues as diverse as deforestation, animal welfare and human rights,” she said.
Also, AFGC supports the need to produce and source palm oil in a traceable and sustainable way, minimising environmental impact and protecting local smallholders, which is advocated by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Under the RSPO – designed to promote the growth and use of sustainable palm oil through cooperation within the supply chain and stakeholders – companies can purchase Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO), which has been approved as sustainable, and is grown on certified plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia.