UPDATE: FSS and FSA issue further guidance on the use of oils as ingredient substitutions

Further information is being issued about oil substitutions and product labelling as a result of the conflict in Ukraine.

Food Standards Scotland and The Food Standards Agency are updating consumers and businesses about refined or fully refined food grade vegetable oils that may be used as ingredient substitutions in some food products, despite being labelled as containing sunflower oil.

This update adds fully refined corn (maize) oil to previously issued advice to consumers that refined rapeseed oil, fully refined palm oil, fully refined coconut oil and fully refined soybean oil are temporarily being used in some products without updated labelling.

The rapid risk assessment underpinning our advice has also been published.

Our findings show that the risk of allergic reactions from the substitute oils on the list is very low and for fully refined soybean oil it is negligible, which means that allergic reactions to these fully refined vegetable oils are very rare and - if they do occur - are mild.

Geoff Ogle, Chief Executive of Food Standards Scotland said:  "Our number one priority is for the safety of consumers - they need to be confident that the food they buy will not make them ill. 

“Today we have added corn oil to the list of possible substitution oils because it is a healthier alternative than those we had previously listed. We are also encouraging businesses to use healthier and more sustainable oils if substituting.

“We recognise that the current circumstances in relation to the supply of sunflower oil are unique. We have seen first-hand the resilience and innovation of food manufacturers in ensuring there is adequate consumer communications, quickly updating labels and information about any related product change through point-of-sale notices and information on their websites.

”However, we now expect food manufacturers to be working towards meeting their regulatory labelling obligations.”

The rapid risk assessment includes information on the allergy risk associated with a wide range of oils. This information is being published for reasons of transparency, and for the benefit of food manufacturers and processors.  

Enforcement officers are being encouraged to adopt a proportionate approach, on a temporary basis, in the case of the substitution of sunflower oil by five oils. These are refined rapeseed oil, fully refined palm oil, fully refined coconut oil, fully refined soybean oil and fully refined corn (maize) oil.

Other oils can be used as substitutes in manufacturers’ recipes, but the proportionate response does not apply for that wider set of oils. This only applies to the manufacturing of products like crisps, breaded fish, frozen vegetables and chips and not to whole bottles of sunflower oil, for example.