Palm oil and Hovis

Personal note: A letter received by a supporter.
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Dear

Thank you for your email. We do use Palm Oil in our products. We would stress the use of palm oil by Hovis is very limited - a Loaf of Hovis bread contains around 0.5% Palm oil.

Premier Foods is concerned over the environmental and social impacts linked to our procurement of palm oil from South East Asia. Our customers, and consumers, demand that all ingredients that form part of our food products are sourced in line with both agricultural and socially responsible best practices. We understand that areas of tropical rainforest are being converted to agricultural use, in Malaysia and Indonesia, to facilitate the extension of palm oil plantations in order to enable the economic development of this region. A consequence of this conversion is a reduction in the natural habitat of the large ape, orang-utan, and the associated biodiversity of this region.

Premier Foods and our palm oil suppliers are all members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) an organisation whose mission is to assure palm oil contributes to a better world by advancing the production, procurement and use of sustainable oil palm products. We require that our suppliers follow the development, and implementation, of the RSPO guidelines to ensure that we are at the forefront of sourcing sustainable third party certified palm oil as it becomes available.

Premier Foods has set itself a target to source 100% Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified ‘sustainable’ palm oil by 2011.

Regards
Julie Kralyic
PA to Marketing and Sales Directors

Hovis
Hovis Court
PO Box 527
69 Alma Road
Windsor
Berkshire SL4 3HD

Telephone: 08707 288888