The Soil Association is proposing to add a new requirement to our Standards, which companies sourcing oil palm ingredients will have to meet in order for their products to be Soil Association-certified. Before going ahead, we’d value your feedback on our proposed approach.
Do I need to take part? It is in your best interests to take part, if you are:
a Soil Association food or feed licensee who buys oil palm ingredients or products containing them (this includes palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel expeller, or palm oil derivatives)
a retailer who stocks Soil Association certified food or feed products
an organic palm oil company e.g. producer, processor, trader or importer of organic oil palm ingredients
If you fall in to any of these categories then we really want to hear from you!
If you don’t fall in to one of these categories but you have received a personal invitation to take part, this means we have identified that we'd like to hear from you so please continue to the survey.
*Please note this survey does not apply to manufacturers of organic health & beauty products, or caterers (unless you also fall in to one of the above three categories). We are considering the approach to oil palm ingredients in the COSMOS and Food For Life Served Here schemes separately.
What is this survey about? The Soil Association wishes to keep its sourcing requirements up to date with developments in sustainable palm oil production (in particular, the strengthening of RSPO standards in 2018).
We have been working closely with external academic, NGO and industry experts through a Soil Association Task & Finish Group on Deforestation and Palm Oil. This group has recommended we introduce a new sourcing requirement for oil palm ingredients that will better correspond with our farming standards and reflect best practice. So we are running this consultation to find out how easy it will be for licensees to comply.
The proposed sourcing requirement will add stronger safeguards to protect areas of High Conservation Value (including primary forest) in the oil palm sector. But please rest assured that we have no reason to be concerned about your supply chain, we simply wish to keep our standards up to speed with developments.
Before completing this survey If this survey applies to you, please familiarise yourself with the proposed sourcing requirement. View the proposed sourcing requirement here (opens new window). Before you complete the survey it is important that you consider if (and how) this new requirement may affect your business. Please discuss this with your colleagues if necessary.
We hope the survey takes no more than 15 minutes to complete. However, additional time may be needed to gather the requested information.
This survey is open until Friday 7th August. You can save your responses and come back to them in this time period. So that Survey Monkey remembers you, if you wish to do this, please ensure cookies are enabled and that you do not clear your device's cache until the survey is complete.
What happens next? Your answers are for Soil Association use only, and will not be made public. We may revise the sourcing requirement in light of your feedback
