Mah in Italy to promote, strengthen commodities-based businesses

KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities aims to promote and strengthen commoditiesbased, especially palm oil associated business linkages, between government and private sectors in Italy.

In a statement yesterday, the ministry said Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong is currently on a two-day mission to Rome.

During a roundtable session with the world renowned producer of branded chocolate spread and confectionary products from Italy, Ferrero, the minister highlighted that the ‘No Palm Oil’ denigration campaign has been rather challenging for the palm oil industry, given the proliferation of such labels to almost 1600 products throughout Europe.

“During these discussions he congratulated Ferrero in its persistent believe in palm oil and winning its court battle last week.

“The Belgian Court of Appeal in Brussels ruled that ‘No Palm Oil’ labels and their associated claims were misleading and were without any merit nor based on proven scientific facts.

“In this regards, the court has ruled on June 2, 2017, that the Belgian supermarket chain, Delhaize, was misleading its customers when it made wild and inaccurate allegations about palm oil, including on the labels of its own ‘Palm Oil Free’ products,” it said.

Mah said the Belgian Court of Appeal stated emphatically that Delhaize’s allegations about palm oil were “unverifiable, unsubstantiated by fact based claims and therefore not objective” in relation to both environmental and health allegations it made against palm oil.

“The Belgian Court of Appeal court was highly vocal in its ruling, that Delhaize must immediately cease and desist from making these illegal and unjust claims against palm oil through such ‘No Palm Oil’ labels and its associated claims.

“Failure to comply with the court’s ruling could result in imposition or pain of serious financial penalties up to a maximum of 1 million,” he said.

Mah reiterated that Malaysia was making its own sustainability commitment by mandating that the entire palm oil production in Malaysia will be sustainably certified through the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil Certification standard by 2020. — Bernama