Northern's deal for sustainable palm oil

The deal with AAK in Hull will help Leeds-based Northern's long term ambition to source 100 per cent of its palm oil from sustainable sources.

Sustainable palm oil, which is used in Northern's pizza base dough and pie pastry, is very difficult to get hold of globally due to tight supply. Palm oil mostly comes from South-east Asia where thousands of acres of forest are being destroyed to make way for plantations.

Northern has become the first customer to use AAK's new Akofluid Pumpable Shortening containing certified sustainable palm oil.

AAK, the UK's leading supplier of edible oils and fats, introduced the new product to help food manufacturers and commercial bakers to meet consumer demand for sustainable palm oil in their food and for lower saturated fat content.

Green Isle Foods – the Irish division of Northern Foods – will use the product, which is a blend of rapeseed and palm oils, in frozen short crust pastry recipes.

The move to the new Akofluid product is part of Northern's ongoing commitment to sustainability, which will see the business convert all recipes and processes that currently use palm oil to use only sustainably produced material. Akofluid also offers additional benefits such as reduced waste packaging and handling costs, and helps to meet the Food Standards Agency's guidelines on saturated fat content.

AAK said Akofluid is a major step forward in the development of sustainable palm oil products for the food manufacturing industry.

Previously there has been no sustainable option providing the blend of oils required by most manufacturers of pastry and bakery products. The use of liquid oils, which contain lower levels of saturated fat than palm oil, means Akofluid's saturated fat content is around 15 per cent – less than half that typically found in standard block shortening or bread fats.

Akofluid Pumpable Shortening's liquid consistency also allows for more efficient dough mixing, requiring less fat and less working-in.

Akofluid is developed for use in cake mixes and shortcrust pastry for pie and quiche bases.