The industrialists had seized the services of Bercy several weeks ago to alert on the tensions of supply of sunflower oil because of the war in Ukraine, and to request authorization to modify the recipes. The State authorized Tuesday, April 26, for a maximum of six monthsmanufacturers of margarine, crisps, sauces, biscuits or casseroles to replace sunflower oil in their recipes without changing their packaging.
The industrialists who will make this request for derogation will be able to use, for example, rapeseed oil, detailed Bercy after a consultation with industrialists and consumer associations. They will have a period of six months to change their packaging but will have to indicate before two months that a change of recipe has taken place, without necessarily specifying which one.
In the case of the addition of allergenic products, or in the event that the packaging contains claims that are no longer true, such as “100% organic” Where ” without palm oil “ for example, the indication of a change in recipes must on the other hand be immediate. All the recipe modifications that have been the subject of a derogation will be referenced on a site of the General Directorate for the Prevention of Fraud (DGCCRF)a department of the Ministry of the Economy.
“Effort of transparency by the authorities”
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, sauces, pasta, canned in oil…
When asked by manufacturers at Bercy, the NGO Foodwatch insisted on the need for “full transparency”and reacted on Tuesday by welcoming “the effort of transparency of the authorities”. However, she warned “on the puzzle of access to information for consumers”at best via stickers on packaging – ” but not always “ – or via a QR code in stores linking to the DGCCRF website.
Ukraine, which provided 50% of world production, has not been able to export since the Russian invasion: its ports are blocked and, according to kyiv, road and rail allow less half a million tonnes of goods per month, mainly cereals, ten times less than before the conflict.
For its part, Russia, which exports 28% of the world’s sunflower oil, has just introduced a quota for foreign sales of this precious liquid, after having increased taxes at the beginning of April 20% export.