Changes are to be expected on supermarket shelves. The State authorized, on Tuesday April 26, and for a maximum period of six months, manufacturers of margarine, crisps and prepared sauces to replace sunflower oil without changing their packaging. A decision motivated by the difficulties in supplying this product. Where do these difficulties come from? What foods are affected by the recipe changes? What will sunflower oil be replaced by? The world make the point.
Why are there supply difficulties?
This is one of the many effects of the war in Ukraine: the country, which provided 50% of the world trade in sunflower oil, has not been able to export since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24. Ukrainian ports are blocked and, according to kyiv, only half a million tonnes of goods can be transported westward by road and rail each month – ten times less than before the conflict.
For its part, Russia, which exports 28% of the world’s sunflower oil, has just introduced quotas for foreign sales of this product. And in early April, Moscow increased its export taxes by 20%.
Results: on supermarket shelves, sunflower oil is lacking, consumers rush for precious bottles, and prices soar (sunflower oil now costs almost as much as olive oil).
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) announced on April 8 that its price index for vegetable oils had jumped “by 23.2%, driven by the rise in sunflower oil prices”. As sunflower oil is a raw material widely used by food manufacturers, food prices, mechanically, are also pulled up.
Is there a risk of a shortage of sunflower oil?
In French supermarkets, empty shelves are due to a runaway effect and overstocking of sunflower oil. Consumers and restaurateurs have tended in recent weeks to make precautionary purchases, for fear of inflation on the one hand, and a shortage on the other. This self-fulfilling fear has, in fact, provoked a raid.
On Twitter, dozens of posts showed displays robbed and some have tried to deal with the problem with lightnessproposing for example to exchange a “5 liter bottle of sunflower oil against a [console] Switch Oled”.
There is however no risk of shortage in the short term, assured April 3 Michel-Edouard Leclerc, the president of the strategic committee of the centers E. Leclerc, on BFM TVcalling into question the behavior of consumers: “For sunflower oil, our stocks go until June. Consumers begin to overstock, they are the ones who cause the non-replenishment of shelves. “People are stocking up and that’s what may empty the shelves right now, but there will be merchandise again. Not necessarily all brands, but there will be products, don’t panic.insisted on April 5 Dominique Schelcher, the boss of System U, on Radio Classique.
The shortage could, however, be felt after the summer. End of March, Mykola Solsky, Ukrainian Agriculture Minister, estimated that the Russian invasion risked halving the next grain harvest. Ukrainians “will sow wherever possible”but only “50% to 75% of the territories” will be able to be exploited, underlined Mykola Solsky, who also specified that many farmers had “joined the army or territorial defence”, creating a labor shortage. It will also be necessary to manage to get the goods out of a country cut off from trade routes. Uncertainty could further increase the temptation to buy precautionary.
What products are affected by the recipe changes?
To deal with this situation, food manufacturers will be able, for a maximum of six months, to replace sunflower oil without changing their packaging. Manufacturers had seized the Ministry of the Economy several weeks ago to alert on supply tensions and request authorization to modify their recipes.
Fries, crisps, sauces, biscuits, baby jars, margarines, ready meals, breaded products, pasta, preserves… Sunflower oil is an ingredient that is used in the composition of many foods. Sunflower is also present in the form of lecithin, an additive (in chocolates for example). According to Bercy, several hundred or even a thousand references could be the subject of these requests for exemptions.
What will sunflower oil be replaced by?
On paper, there are plenty of edible oils that can be used as substitute ingredients for sunflower oil. Those of rapeseed, soy or palm for example. But the demand is such that manufacturers are already having to deal with a sharp rise in prices. Regarding palm oil, there is also the question of its ecological footprint. The use of olive oil, which is much more expensive, appears to be an ultra-limited option. As for sesame, walnut, hazelnut, peanut or coconut oils, they are also expensive (their production being less important).
What will change for consumers?
Manufacturers have six months, from April 26, to change the packaging of products whose recipe has been modified. This is, according to Bercy, the time currently needed to print new packaging. Within two months, manufacturers will have to indicate on the packaging that a recipe change has taken place (with a sticker for example). However, they will not be obliged to specify the nature of this change.
If manufacturers add an allergenic product, however, this must be reported immediately. “Cases of allergen addition to date only concern soy (via the introduction of soy lecithin) and peanuts (via the introduction of peanut oil)”, specifies the Ministry of the Economy. Ditto if the packaging includes environmental claims that are no longer true, such as “100% organic”, “GMO-free” Where ” without palm oil “ for example.
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. This service will also be responsible for monitoring compliance with the rules set by the government in the coming months.
What do consumer associations think?
Faced with requests for derogations from food manufacturers, the consumer association food watch signaled the risk that the crisis could serve as an alibi for reformulations on the sly. She therefore insisted on the need for a “full transparency”. She reacted on Tuesday by saluting “the effort of transparency of the authorities”.
The Foodwatch association, however, warned “on the puzzle of access to information for consumers”, at best by stickers on packaging, or using a QR code in stores linking to the DGCCRF site (which excludes consumers who do not have a smartphone). Foodwatch claims, in a petitionthat the manufacturers of the products concerned “make it as easy as possible to access information on the shelves and directly on the products concerned”.
For its part, the French Association for the Prevention of Allergies (Afpral) was delighted with the care given to information on allergenic products, considering “essential that consumer safety be preserved”.