(The online newspaper): – This is a temporary situation, and we will try to get sunflower oil back in the products as soon as possible, says Håkon Mageli, Executive Vice President of Orkla.
Orkla is behind well-known brands such as Nidar, Grandiosa, Toro, Stabburet, Lano and a large number of other Norwegian brands.
Both Russia and Ukraine are big on sunflower production, and the war will therefore have a major impact on the world’s supply of vegetable oils. This means that Orkla must take action.
– We are now changing the recipe for several products, but we want to emphasize that Nidar’s chocolate portfolio, including Smash, will not be affected, says Mageli.
He points out that there is no sunflower oil in Nidar’s chocolates today, and therefore they will not be affected by the lack of sunflower oil. But he says that they have heard that more people think it will be palm oil in chocolate, and he can deny that.
These products get a new recipe
Orkla has worked for a long time to change the recipe for several items. When Nettavisen spoke with CEO Nils K. Selte in Orkla in May, he said that they worked to procure alternative ingredients, as well as alternative suppliers of sunflower oil.
He said they were keen to do a thorough job of identifying current candidates to meet all requirements, including sustainability, for their suppliers, while focusing on product development.
Several products have now received a new recipe, and are already in stores, and there will be more. These items get a new temporary recipe:
- Nugatti will be made with shea butter instead of sunflower oil
- Kim’s potato chips, Cheeze doodles and Totenflak have already received a new recipe, and here sunflower oil has been replaced with segregated certified palm oil, which means that Orkla is confident in the origin of the palm oil.
- Polly peanuts are now made with peanut oil instead of sunflower oil
- The biscuits from Sætres Café Bakery contain will have a mixture of different vegetable oils. In this mixture, sunflower oil will be replaced with rapeseed oil.
– Our biscuit products will have the recipe changed to varying degrees. The changes will take place gradually, says Mageli.
– Has put in a lot of work
Mageli says that for a long time they have done a lot of work to change the recipe for a number of items, to make sure that they contain sunflower oil. Now the situation is the opposite, and they have to change the recipe for more goods in order to still be able to sell them.
– Many employees have gone to great lengths to find alternative solutions, so that we can still offer our well-known and beloved products. With these solutions, we can maintain operations and jobs at our many factories, says Mageli.
– Why is it so important to have sunflower oil in the products?
– It is an oil that has many good properties, both from an environmental and nutritional point of view, he says.
There are still a number of products from Orkla’s portfolio that have sunflower oil among the ingredients, and the replacement of other oils in some products has been done in accordance with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, he says.
The products that have already received a new recipe are either in the store or on their way to the store. Mageli points out that the packaging has not been updated on all the products yet.
– New packaging is on the way. But for now, we encourage you to check the websites of the product in question, for example kims.no. There, the ingredient list will be updated, he says.
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