Jul 27 2010 --- Northern Foods has become the first customer to use AAK’s new Akofluid Pumpable Shortening containing certified sustainable palm oil.

AAK, based in Hull, 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 parent company Northern Foods’ 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 has been supplying RSPO (Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil) certified sustainable palm oil to European manufacturers since November 2008, and has since worked continously with customers to research and develop products suitable for various manufacturing applications. Many key customers now buy AAK’s branded straight sustainable palm oil, Akopalma SG, but the derivatives commonly used in many food products require a more complex solution.