Fats and oils supplier AAK Bakery Services is about to receive its first shipment of sustainably produced crude palm oil at its Hull-based refinery.

A founding member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2004, the company will be one of the first to receive Europe’s initial shipment. The oil has been produced in Malaysia by United Plantations, the first palm oil producer in the world to have been successfully audited against RSPO’s rigorous new sustainability criteria.

"It means that, for the first time, our customers can purchase palm oil that has been independently verified as having been sustainably produced," explained marketing manager Janet Murdoch.

AAK supplies 60% of all oils, fats and processing oils used in the UK’s baking and confec- tionery industry.