Supply chain round-up: Palm oil and GPS tracking
Switch from palm oil ‘not sustainable’
Phasing out palm oil is not the “sustainable solution”, as alternative oils place much greater demand on land and resources, the European head of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has claimed.
With palm oil the world’s most consumed vegetable oil, its removal in favour of less sustainable alternatives would do little good for the planet, argued Inke van der Sluijs. “I’m not here to lobby for palm oil – but it is between four to 10 times more productive than other oils, so phasing palm oil out is not the sustainable solution,” she said.
“The whole campaigning [around palm oil] has been damaging for us, but also RSPO members that have tried so hard to source sustainably – so it’s a very unfortunate marketing campaign.”
GPS tracking helps Basco win claim
Bakery equipment supplier Bakers Basco has employed GPS technology to help win its claim against Birmingham-based MSA Group for using its bread baskets and wheeled dollies without permission.
Bakers Basco was alerted to the missing equipment by delivery drivers working for Warburtons and Allied Bakeries – two of the five bakers that are joint-owners of the equipment company.
On visiting the MSA Group site, recovery officers found equipment belonging to Bakers Basco and other returnable transit packaging companies – as well as a chipping machine.
In a hearing at Birmingham County Court, the defendant’s sole director Aminah Ajaib agreed to enter into an order not to take possession of equipment belonging to Bakers Basco or its members. She was ordered to pay £7,500 in damages and costs.
“The decision to deploy more GPS trackers across our pool of four million baskets and 500,000 dollies has been a resounding success,” said Bakers Basco general manager Richard Mew.
“In this case, we were able to back up our claims in court with solid evidence from GPS tracker units embedded within our equipment. It helps to identify unorthodox movements and subsequent unauthorised possession and use.”
Meanwhile, as pressure to achieve supply chain transparency grows, food manufacturers and ingredients suppliers will need to up their technology game, or risk being eliminated from the chain.
