Products of oil palm in animal feed

Monitoring of compliance during the contract period can for example be done through sampling at one or several occasions of one or several products for which the criterion applies. The supplier can prove that the product(s) meet the requirement through, e.g,:

• Certification that meets the requirement, e.g., RSPO certification in accordance with the Mass Balance, Identity Preserved or Segregated supply chain principles.
• Certification from the RSPO or UTZ that the proportion of products or by-products of the oil palm used as a fat component in in feed during the production of animal food products is compensated by a corresponding number of RSPO credits according to the Book & Claim supply chain principle..
• Other documentation showing that the requirement is met, e.g., that the feed supplier provides only RSPO-certified products from oil palm, or that the supplier purchases the number of RSPO credits that corresponds to the amount used in manufacturing the products.

Note that the product doesn’t become certified just because the feed is certified.

Note that market avalability for products that fulfil criteria at the spearhead level may be severely limited. A market analysis needs to ensure available products before the criterion is used.

The oil palm is a highly productive and profitable source of vegetable oil, the demand of which has increased significantly over the last 30 years. The majority of production occurs in Malaysia and Indonesia, and has become an important source of income for these countries. But it has also been associated with deforestation, increased carbon dioxide emissions and negative effects on animal life and ecosystems in sensitive areas.¹Observations of child labour, discrimination and other offences against human rights have also been reported from the palm oil industry².

Palm kernel products is a residual product from the production of palm oil which can be used as an ingredient in animal feed³. Fat with palm origin can, according to some producers, have technical and nutritional benefits compared to other oils⁴. For some animal feed, palm kernel products can be replaces with for example bran, which can decrease the climate impact of the feed⁵.

Fat of palm origin can provide technical and nutritional benefits in animal feed compared with other oils, which is why it is used in the production of animal feed. Certification for sustainable palm oil means that a product with origin from the oil palm is produced according to the criteria set by Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil, under one of the supply chains principles of mass-balance, identity preserved or segregated, as defined by the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm oil. Read more on the RSPO webpage.

¹Jordbruksverket, 2018

² Amnesty international, 2016

    Swedwatch, 2015

³ Lantmännen, 2020

⁴ Personligt meddelande AAK, 2019

⁵ Lantmännen, 2019

The version date indicates when the sustainability criterion was created or last updated. Last reviewed dated tells when we last checked that the sustainability criterion still is relevant.

2020-03-25: Original version