A spokesperson for crisp manufacturer Jones Welsh Snacks has confirmed that the company is looking into using alternatives to sunflower oil, including vegetable oil and rapeseed oil, to supplement potential shortages.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Geraint Hughes of Jones Welsh Snacks said that the food manufacturing industry was facing “a few tricky months” with disruption to the planting and harvesting of sunflower crops now likely.
He said: “This potentially means a big disruption for companies like ours, other companies across the UK, who are seriously now facing a shortage of the key ingredients and we’re all looking at the scenario of not having sunflower oil which is a key ingredient for frying and preparing a lot of the snacks we all enjoy.”
The shortage is said to have arisen because Ukraine and Russia produce around 80% of the world’s supply of the oil and the war is disrupting exports.
Hughes said that it will be difficult to “match the performance” of sunflower oil due to its blandness and ability to blend well with potatoes during the frying process.
He added that switching to another recipe would also mean changing labelling on packets which would potentially cost thousands of pounds and put “huge financial pressures” on businesses.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland have advised consumers that some food products labelled as containing sunflower oil may instead contain refined rapeseed oil. The FSA said that this was necessary to maintain the supply of certain food products containing ingredients that have become increasingly difficult to source because of the conflict in Ukraine
