Use of Palm Oil in catering facilities

The request was successful.

Dear House of Lords,

I am currently researching to what end institutions and organisations are using palm oil in their “home-run” catering and kitchen facilities.

To that end, how much of your catering requires the use of products that make use of palm oil?

Does the House try to limit this?

Is there any commitment to defining sustainably sourced palm oil within procurement of products?

Yours faithfully,

Liam Fuller

HL FOI & Information Compliance, House of Lords

Dear Liam,

 

Thank you for your email to which the House of Lords Catering & Retail
Service has provided the following information:

 

The House of Lords Catering & Retail Service does not purchase or use palm
oil directly for cooking in any of our venues. However, palm oil is found
as an ingredient in a number of every-day, ready-made, packaged food
items, such as margarine, crisps and sliced bread - some of which are sold
through our restaurants.

 

Overall the impact and percentage of products we sell that contain palm
oil throughout are venues is minimal. Our venues generally offer a classic
restaurant service, where recipes are cooked from scratch using fresh,
seasonal ingredients. Pre-packaged products (that have the potential to
contain palm oil) only appear in three of our eight venues and only form a
very low percentage of the overall turnover.

 

The Catering & Retail Service within the House of Lords works closely
alongside a Parliamentary Procurement Service that is responsible for
sourcing and supply of products through suppliers that have to adhere to
strict contractual regulations when supplying Parliament. Environmental
impact is written into all of our tender documents when choosing new
catering suppliers and is a scored section, meaning the suppliers
responses on this will have an effect on the overall score they achieve as
part of the tender process. A positive example of this is that our current
ice cream supplier (appointed recently in 2017 and is BRC certified),
supplies a quality driven product that contains no palm oil – unlike
alternative ice cream brands available on the market.

 

Also, through a joint application with the House of Commons, the Houses of
Parliament became a member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association in
2017.  We were delighted to receive a score of 70% achieving the highest
possible rating of 3 stars and there is a commitment within both Houses to
be at the forefront of key environmental initiatives.

 

We hope this is helpful.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Frances Grey

Information Compliance Team

House of Lords

 

 

 

From: Liam Jake Fuller
[[1]mailto:[FOI #484485 email]]
Sent: 12 May 2018 14:10
To: HL External Communications Office <[2][email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Use of Palm Oil in catering
facilities

 

Dear House of Lords,

I am currently researching to what end institutions and organisations are
using palm oil in their “home-run” catering and kitchen facilities.

To that end, how much of your catering requires the use of products that
make use of palm oil?

Does the House try to limit this?

Is there any commitment to defining sustainably sourced palm oil within
procurement of products?

Yours faithfully,

Liam Fuller

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