Fast food company Kentucky Fried Chicken has switched from using imported palm oil to Australian canola oil in its Australian outlets.
KFC completed the move to a special type of non-genetically modified, high-oleic canola oil this week in response to customer concerns about the environmental impacts of palm oil production.
Palm oil, which is grown mainly in Asia, Africa and South America has been the subject of recent campaigns by environment groups, which claim its production threatens the habitat of orangutans and other animals in Indonesia and Malaysia.
KFC won’t reveal the exact amount of canola being purchased, as it says the information is commercially sensitive. However, chief supply chain officer Michael Clark says the value of the high-oleic oil is in the “tens of millions of dollars”.
Mr Clark says at this stage KFC will only be buying non-genetically modified canola seeds.
“Some consumers find it important that it’s non-GM and if we can source non-GM canola we’ll continue to do so.”
Australian Oilseeds Federation executive director, Nick Goddard, says the high-oleic oil is healthier than palm oil.
“From KFC’s point of view, that probably want to keep it to themselves, but from an industry point of view, the more fast food outlets that make the switch from saturated fat products like palm oil, to high oleic canola oil, the better it is for all of us.”
