As a responsible retailer, SPAR Austria has consistently worked towards reducing or removing palm oil from its product range, with 93% of all 5,000 own brand food products never having contained the oil at all. In the interest of the health of its customers, the SPAR Partner is continuing to pursue palm oil reduction, with recent reports showing that 99% of its own brand food items are now palm oil free.

For years, environmental organisations have been warning of the significant negative consequences of palm oil production for the environment, while a Greenpeace study highlighted the potential health risks.

In the autumn of 2017, SPAR Austria decided to remove palm oil from its own brand products in which it was still present, with the recipe revisions completed in just over a year. “We have the responsibility to offer our customers food products that contain no harmful ingredients,” said Gerhard Drexel, CEO of SPAR Austria.

“Palm oil, which is responsible for the clearing of our rainforests, is also said to be harmful to health,” he explained.

The result of this undertaking has led to 99% of SPAR Austria’s Own Brand food products now being free of palm oil, while the following ranges are all completely palm oil free: SPAR PREMIUM, SPAR Natur * pur, SPAR Vital, SPAR free from, SPAR Veggie, SPAR enjoy, and SPAR Feine Küche. Instead of palm oil, domestic sunflower oil, rapeseed oil or butter is now being used, and the exchange of products on the shelves of SPAR stores throughout the country is taking place on a continuous basis.

For a few products, a conversion has not yet been successful. “We will continue to work hard to convert this remaining 1% of SPAR’s Own Brand products. We were faced with some challenges, but we are very much looking for ways and options to go without palm oil for these few remaining products,” confirmed Mr. Drexel.

Source: SPAR Austria

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About SPAR Austria

The origins of SPAR in Austria date back to 1954 and the current SPAR AG was created in 1970, when the original founding families joined with other regional wholesalers to form SPAR Austria AG – a 100% privately owned Austrian company.

SPAR Austria’s gross retail sales growth reached 6.7 billion euro in 2017 from 1,566 stores including 757 operated by independent retailers. SPAR Austria is the largest private training organisation for young apprentices in their market.