The state authorized on Tuesday, for a maximum of six months, manufacturers of margarine, crisps and sauces to replace sunflower oil without changing their packaging, due to supply difficulties due to the war in Ukraine.
It is the result of several weeks of consultation between State services, companies and consumer protection associations: food manufacturers, who use sunflower oil in the recipes of many products, will have to apply for a derogation to use, for example, rapeseed or even palm oil instead of sunflower oil. This also concerns manufacturers of biscuits or dishes in sauce.
Manufacturers will have a period of six months to change their packaging – the time required to have new packaging printed at present, according to Bercy – but must, before two months, indicate on the packaging that a change in recipe has taken place. place without necessarily specifying which one.
Many products affected
In the case of the addition of allergenic products, or in the event that the packaging includes claims that are no longer true, such as “100% organic” or “palm oil free” for example, the indication of on the other hand, a change of recipes must be immediate.
All revenue changes that have been waived will be referenced on a Fraud Prevention website (DGCCRF), a department of the Ministry of the Economy. This Directorate will also be responsible for monitoring compliance with the rules set by the government in the coming months.
According to Bercy, several hundred or even a thousand references could be the subject of these requests for exemptions, in particular fried products such as crisps or fries, or breaded, or even margarine, but also sauces, pasta, preserves in oil… Sunflower is also present in many products, such as chocolates for example, in the form of lecithin, an additive.
The rules established on Tuesday also apply to products sold wholesale or semi-wholesale, said the Ministry of the Economy.
The consumer puzzle
The industrialists had seized the services of Bercy several weeks ago to alert on the tensions of supply of sunflower oil, and to ask the authorization to modify the receipts.
Ukraine, which provided 50% of the world trade in sunflower oil, is no longer able to export it because of the war which has led to a blockage of its ports.
Faced with the demands of agrifood manufacturers in France, the NGO Foodwatch insisted on the need for “total transparency”. She reacted on Tuesday by welcoming “the effort of transparency of the authorities”.
However, she warned “about the puzzle of access to information for consumers”, at best via stickers on the packaging – “but not always” – or via a QR code in the stores referring to the site. Internet Fraud Repression (DGCCRF).
It claims, petition in support, that the manufacturers and distributors of the products concerned “facilitate as much as possible access to information on the shelves and directly on the products concerned”.