French retail giant Casino yesterday (25 March) pledged to reduce the amount of palm oil in its products for environmental – and health – reasons.The company, which runs the Geant, Franprix and Leader Price banners in France, said it would remove palm oil from 200 own-label lines by the end of the year.

“Palm oil is a vegetable fat. Even if it has good stability at high temperature and gives food a crisp texture, mass consumption may present risks to human health and the environment,” Casino said.

“Nutritionally, this oil is rich in saturated fatty acids, which when consumed excessively, raises cholesterol in the blood and increases cardiovascular risk. Environmentally, its use leads to intensive cultivation of palm oil at the expense of forests in Asia. This leads to deforestation and loss of plant and animal biodiversity.”

The retailer also pledged to remove palm oil from all its own-label lines, although it declined to give a timetable beyond the end of this year.

Casino said it already sells 13 products that contain no palm oil.

Officials at the retailer could not be reached for further comment.

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