08/12/2011 (4-Traders) - Premier Foods, home to some of Britain's favourite food brands, today took one further step towards its goal of securing 100% sustainable palm oil by 2015 when the company was recognised with an award for its achievement in becoming the world's largest holder of multi-site certification by the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Confirmation of Premier Foods' leading position globally comes with an award from BM TRADA, the leading independent certification body, recognising Premier Foods' efforts in getting 21 of its sites certified as having RSPO approved supply chain traceability systems capable of guaranteeing the use of palm oil from sustainable sources - more than any other company worldwide.

Currently Premier Foods sources 25% of its 23,000 tonne annual palm oil needs from an RSPO certified 'physically segregated' supply chain whilst the balance is certified through the GreenPalm Certification Scheme.

In 2008, Premier Foods set out a plan to be a leader in sourcing sustainable palm oil by 2015.  The award and certification brings the company one step nearer to that goal.  By 2015, the company has pledged to use 100% traceable palm oil in its products. Having its relevant sites independently certified will mean customers and consumers can have full confidence in the provenance of the palm oil used.

Darrel Webber, Secretary General of RSPO commended the company on its achievement:

"The commitment that Premier Foods in the UK, and BM TRADA, have demonstrated with regards to the certification of their UK-based manufacturing sites to ensure the provenance of RSPO-certified palm oil is an exemplary and commendable achievement. We hope that this will inspire other UK manufacturers to join RSPO's expanding base of progressive member companies who are supporting certified sustainable palm oil.'

"We are delighted to have our efforts recognised through this award. This is an important step for us, not only towards our 2015 goal, but also in demonstrating to customers and consumers our commitment to respond to important environmental and social issues in ways that really make a difference. We hope that we can encourage others to follow our lead."

RSPO is not the only organisation to recognise Premier Foods' efforts. In its recently published 'Palm Oil Buyer's Scorecard 2011', the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) gave the company a top 100% score from amongst 132 retailers and manufacturers assessed.

Adam Harrison, Senior Policy Advisor for Food & Agriculture at WWF UK, said:

"The WWF welcomes the good performance shown by some companies, including Premier Foods, in our 2011 Scorecard.   And we also welcome this latest step by the company to get ready to shift more of its use of palm oil to traceable supplies of certified sustainable palm oil.  This demonstrates that in the UK, as increasingly elsewhere, it is becoming more and more straightforward to do the right thing when it comes to palm oil. 

We hope this move by Premier Foods will help others to also transform their companies." - and that Premier will continue to progress towards its aim of only using traceable sustainable palm oil - even sooner than its stated aim of 2015'