Report Forum for the future: Breaking down fats and oils

Forum for the Future has launched a report that reveals that boycotts and bans on specific fats and oils are an oversimplified solution to a complex problem. The report: Breaking down fats and oils: A catalyst to transform the global edible fats and oils system focuses on edible fats and oils sustainability and analyses all the major vegetable oils and animal fats consumed globally as one. It aims to provide an informed and balanced description of the fats and oils sector and argues that nuance, context and in-depth assessment are needed to assess the environmental and nutritional factors, both positive and negative, associated with each ingredient. The report is the second publication by the Edible Fats and Oil Collaboration, a global multi-stakeholder initiative that focuses on accelerating the sustainable production and use of edible fats and oils. The collaboration current members are Forum for the Future, Volac Wilmar Feed Ingredients, WWF-UK, M&S, Unilever, Upfield and IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands.

EPOA participated in UN Dialogue on the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture

Recently EPOA contributed to a small scale discussion organised by Food Unfolded, on how to shift palm oil production towards more sustainable production methods whilst supporting those who depend on the palm oil sector. From the discussion it was clear that economic viability for smallholder palm oil farmers is crucial. Furthermore, there is a need for clear business cases that show smallholders ways to implement changes that simultaneously reduce their environmental footprints and bring economic returns in the short and long term. Participants discussed the need for smallholders to receive their fair share, as higher incomes would facilitate investment by farmers in more sustainable production approaches. Sharing and better distribution of existing (production) knowledge was also seen as important for smallholders to improve practices. Governments of consumer countries should promote sustainable palm oil in order to bolster the global market for sustainable palm oil and drive more producers to switch to more sustainable methods. A final report will be shared with the United Nations later.

Goodbye Imkje

After serving 37 years in the food sector at several industry associations, Imkje Tiesinga left EPOA for a well-deserved pension starting 1 July 2021. Imkje joined EPOA in 2019 to help guide the Nutrition and Health working group and clarify and address the regulatory topics related to nutrition and palm free claims. We will miss her knowledge, experience and positive attitude and trust you join us in wishing Imkje the best of luck with the long merited free time ahead.

Please note that per 1 July the Nutrition and Health topics as well as the regulatory activities related to nutrition and palm free claims at EPOA are managed by Margot Logman.

Social media outreach EPOA

When we reflect on EPOA’s online presence during the first half year of 2021, we can say that we have made some great progress. Our website visitors have increased by 50% compared to the previous half year, up to a total of 16 thousand.


We have reached nearly half a million people who belong to our B2B audience, of which 400.000 through LinkedIn and 100.000 through Twitter. On the consumer side, we have reached over 5 million people through Instagram, each of whom have seen our messaging approximately 4 times. Overall, we are very happy with these numbers, and we will continue our online activities in the last half year of 2021!