Sustainability and smallholder concerns: Palm oil producing nations question EU’s deforestation ‘workstream model’
Significant doubts had been raised as to whether the EU’s deforestation workstream model would be sufficient to allay fears raised by palm oil producing nations, especially in relation to sustainability and smallholder farmers.
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) Ad Hoc Joint Task Force’s (JTF) launched a dedicated workstream model to look into the various issues raised by producer countries regarding the EUDR.
But although this has marked the beginning of what is likely to be a long-term, complicated evaluation of EUDR relations with producer markets, leaders from both Indonesia and Malaysia have already clearly outlined what is needed from the EUDR in order to ensure trade remains viable for both sides.
“Malaysia has repeatedly acknowledged the EU’s right to implement the EUDR [and made efforts to] align these regulations with Malaysia’s existing legal, administrative, and supply chain systems,” Malaysia Deputy Secretary General (Plantation & Commodities) Dato’ Zailani Bin Haji Hashim told the floor.
“That said, this alignment presents significant challenges with smallholders, particularly those in remote areas, likely to be most impacted by the EUDR [so] leniency towards them is crucial.
“[We hope that the task force will] consider deferring implementation and providing targeted technical and capacity-building support [for this group] as this will ensure a smoother transition and empower them to comply with the EUDR in the long run.”
Fruity feature: Supplements firm Sainhall taps convenience and wellness trends to make healthy snacking comeback
Singaporean supplements firm Sainhall made a comeback venture earlier this year into the healthy snacking category with its DeeFruit fruit snacks range, looking to tap on the rising demands for convenience and wellness in the region.
Sainhall (Sainhall Nutrithealth) is better known as a health supplements firm in Singapore, owner of the vitamins.sg platform, exclusive distributor of the Nutrex brand and also a major distributor of brands such as Blackmores and Holistic Way in addition to manufacturing its own brand of supplements.
The firm has ventured out of the supplements space into healthy snacking with its DeeFruit fruit snacks, highlighting the current environment as ideal for this venture.
“Sainhall actually launched a healthy fruit snack brand back in 1994 called McDee, but back then it was less of a focus and we were concentrating our manpower on the health supplements area,” Sainhall Commercial Director Si Min Yeap told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“Today, we are seeing a very strong trend and rise in demand for healthy snacks so have decided to revisit this snacking portfolio with DeeFruit, which is essentially McDee 2.0 – the recipe has also been revamped to improve nutritional and mouthfeel attributes, such as including rice crispies to increase that snackish feel.
“Every 22g sachet of DeeFruit snacks is the nutritional equivalent of an apple in terms of fibre, vitamins and so on, and the entire range is low-calorie (75 kcal or less) and has no added sugar or salt.”
Everyday Weekend seeks bigger share in RTD alcoholic beverages market through rapid expansion in SEA
New Zealand-founded hard seltzer brand Everyday Weekend has highlighted plans to seize growth opportunities in the ready-to-drink (RTD) alcoholic beverages category across Asia through affordable pricing and community marketing strategies.
According to the firm, the global hard seltzer market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13% to US$15.65bn by 2030, with an annual growth of 16% across South East Asia (SEA).
“Growth opportunities for this category are exponential, especially in SEA. The surge in demand is primarily driven by evolving consumer preferences and escalating popularity of RTD alcoholic beverages. Within Asia-Pacific (APAC), hard seltzers are rapidly gaining favour among urban consumers, and those seeking novel drinking experiences.
“Low-ABV beverages, in particular, are well received in Malaysia, Indonesia, and China. Interestingly, Australian consumers are going the other direction and looking for products with higher alcohol content. There is a similar trend in Japan, where consumers want to get bang for the buck in terms of ABV,” Jeremy Maclaurin, founder and director of Everyday Weekend, told FoodNavigator-Asia.
Global sensation: Viral ‘Dubai chocolate fever’ underscores impact of social media, exclusivity and regional flavours
The meteoric rise of FIX Dessert Chocolatier’s chunky chocolate bars earlier this year has been attributed to the growing influence of social media on purchasing decisions, exclusivity, and unique regional flavours, said an analyst.
Founded by Sarah Hamouda, the brand was launched in 2021 but only became viral in 2024 thanks to food influencer Maria Vehera, who filmed herself eating the chocolate bar and posted the video on TikTok.
According to senior research analyst Monique Naval from Euromonitor International, this is the first time in recent years that a product from the Middle East has gained such global attention.
“While the Middle East has other unique chocolate offerings, such as chocolate-covered dates and camel chocolate, these have mostly been bought as souvenirs and their popularity have been rising organically over the years. In contrast, FIX’s instant growth has been supported by social media and its limited production indicates exclusivity.
“The increasing number of chocolatiers on social media has been driving consumer interest. With FIX’s variety of filled chocolates going viral online, it showcases the growing influence of digital platforms in shaping modern confectionery trends,” Naval told FoodNavigator-Asia.
Plant-based drinks face multiple barriers as suitable dairy alternatives: NUS-led study
Plant-based beverages may be considered suitable alternatives to their dairy counterparts but must overcome challenges related to flavour, consumer health, stability and nutrient dissolution, say researchers in Singapore, the UK and China.
Plant-based drinks have emerged as a diverse and popular choice, offering a range of nutritional benefits and catering to lactose-intolerant individuals, as well as vegans and vegetarians.
But in the plant-based drink processing sector, industry leaders have been confronted with multi-faceted challenges that demand strategic solutions for sustainable evolution.
The industry has been facing a critical bottleneck in consumer acceptance due to bitter and astringent flavours - the imperative lies in addressing scientific issues and exploring new extraction technologies to improve flavour.
Bureaucratic bungle: EU deforestation regs face postponement pressures amid ‘urgent’ commodity trade concerns
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) faced pressure from within its own Parliament earlier this year to postpone implementation as an ‘urgent’ matter, with concerns over key trade commodities such as palm oil and cocoa.
This dissent was led by European Peoples’ Party (EPP) environmental spokesperson Peter Liese, who pushed for an ‘urgent’ postponement and ‘far less bureaucratic’ implementation of the EUDR.
“The goal of the EUDR is correct, but its implementation is far too bureaucratic [and] the European Commission absolutely must postpone the entry into force of the deforestation regulation, then use the transitional period to reduce bureaucracy in the text,” he said via a formal statement.
“We must do something about deforestation worldwide and take our responsibility seriously, [however] the regulation has been turned into a bureaucratic monster - Many small farmers around the world and even small forest owners in the European Union cannot work with the text.
“The preparatory work that the Commission should have carried out has not been done [and many] countries are complaining massively about the legislation, including countries that are pursuing the same goal as we are, namely to stop deforestation.
Japan GM foods: New government data highlights genetically modified crop safety to assuage ‘accidental spillage’ concerns
The Japanese government released data earlier this year highlighting the safety of genetically modified crops to placate public concerns that accidental spillages were affecting biodiversity.
Japan has been conducting regular annual surveys and detailed reports on various genetically modified (GM) crops for nearly two decades since 2006, studying GM crop cultivation sites and comparing samples of crops from these areas with non-GM crops of the same species growing nearby to ensure no cross-contamination.
Major crops that have been under study include soybean and rapeseed.
However, despite having seen consistently positive results of minimal-to-no cross contamination between GM and non-GM crops over the years, public scepticism has remained high, and recently culminated in concerns over ‘accidental spillage’ of GM crop seeds affecting local crops.
“We have surveyed multiple GM rapeseed and soybean crop sites [over the years], and for FY2023 the results were similar to FY2022 in that no situation was found where the modified genes spread to related species with which they could potentially be crossed,” Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) said via a formal statement.
“A total of 65 colonies of GM rapeseed were growing in the sites but their growth range did not expand over time, whilst hybridisation rates were within [expected norms] whereas no GM soybeans were found to be growing or affecting nearby wild soybean plants.
“Therefore, there is no risk of local biodiversity being affected by these GM crops [and] for this reason, even if the seeds of approved GM crops happen to be accidentally spilled during transportation, it is considered unlikely that there will be any impacts on biodiversity.”
Palm oil trade shift: Malaysia likely to emerge as big winner with UK’s CPTPP membership approval
Malaysian palm oil has been highlighted as likely to gain an edge in terms of exports to the United Kingdom thanks to the latter obtaining membership into the CPTPP and acknowledgement of the South East Asian nation’s sustainability standards.
The United Kingdom successfully obtained membership to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade agreement in July 2023 after two years of negotiations and receiving ratification from all existing member countries.
This is expected to enter into force in the second half of 2024, and made the UK the 12th CPTPP member – a major trade milestone for the country given its withdrawal from the European Union in 2020.
There were concerns that the deal could lead to an increase of palm oil imports from deforested land, but documentation from the UK Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) advising the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on CPTPP accession said this has been addressed, and suggested that Malaysia could be a big winner.
“The risk that CPTPP would lead to an increase in imports of palm oil from deforested land has been determined to be low for a variety of reasons,” TAC highlighted in its report.
“The vast majority of importers are committed to using the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standard, which is deforestation-free; and for the remainder Malaysia operates a mandatory deforestation-free standard [which is the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) standard].
“This is at least equal to the standard applied in Indonesia [ISPO], which Malaysia is to some extent likely to supplant as a supplier of palm oil to the UK.”
Bel Group CEO Exclusive Part I: APAC cheese success requires product innovation to be hyper-localised
Global cheese giant Bel Group has highlighted that innovation in APAC requires hyper-localised strategies to see success, due to a wide variation in consumption habits across the region.
Bel Group is best known for packaged cheese brands such as The Laughing Cow and Babybel, and throughout its 159-year history has established a presence in some 130 markets worldwide, many of which are located in the Asia Pacific region.
According to Bel Group CEO Cecile Beliot, this long experience in the cheese industry has enabled the company to identify several prominent cheese-specific trends in this region, which in turn have helped it to customise product innovations to local tastes.
“In European markets such as France, Germany or Italy cheese is very much considered part of culture and tradition, so innovation can usually apply across the board for the region – but not so here in Asia,” Beliot told FoodNavigator-Asia.
“Across the many markets in this region, we have seen that every single market has its own different, unique habits when it comes to cheese consumption, so there can be no one-size-fits-all strategy here.
“For instance, we know that in India dairy is pretty much an embedded part of the cuisine and used not only for direct consumption but also in cooking, so in India consumers are very keen on the traditional taste of cheese and products such as the cheese triangles or sachet packs will do well as long as these are available at an accessible price.
“But this is very different in many other Asian markets, where consumers are not used to dairy consumption and cheese is considered a small, niche or even nascent market - even though it is growing due to an increasing understanding of the nutrition and wellness benefits which are concentrated in cheese, there are many pockets of consumers that simply do not like the taste of natural cheese.”
New definition for GM foods in ANZ: Officials propose only those containing novel DNA be considered genetically modified
Foods that do not contain novel DNA will not be considered genetically modified, even though they may have been processed via new breeding techniques, according to proposals from Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) earlier this year.
These changes would affect how GM foods are defined in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code).
“Moving to an outcomes-based approach based on the presence of novel DNA in the organism from which the food for sale is derived provides a clear and objective measure to determine if a food is a GM food for Code purposes. Novel DNA is either present in the organism or it is not. This will assist product developers to comply with the Code and jurisdictions to implement, interpret and enforce Code requirements,” said FSANZ.
Under the proposed changes, certain foods produced via new breeding techniques (NBTs) would be exempt from pre-market assessment and approval as GM foods.
“Our assessment has concluded that when a food derived using NBTs is equivalent in its characteristics to food derived through conventional breeding, it also presents the same low risk. Because of this low risk, a pre-market safety assessment by FSANZ is not needed, and such food should therefore not be GM food for Code purposes,” said FSANZ in its second call for submissions on 30 July 2024.
This new approach to defining GM foods will offer flexibility to address technology developments and new breeding techniques.
