PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(4 November 2025)

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of (a) ultra-processed foods, (b) palm oil and (c) single-use plastics on the environment impacts associated with supply chains; and if she will publish lifecycle analyses held by her Department.

Asked by:
Sarah Gibson (Liberal Democrat)

Defra is funding research into the environmental impacts of agricultural goods including oil seeds such as palm oil and multi-ingredient/complex food products. We are also funding a life-cycle assessment on alternative proteins, which may include products involving varying levels of processing. The findings will be published once complete.

UK Research and Innovation is taking forward a public dialogue on ultra-processed foods to ensure public views feed into research and innovation priorities and programmes at an early stage. The oversight group for the dialogue involves multiple stakeholders from academia, Government and policy bodies, NGOs and food industry organisations.

The Government is committed to supporting sustainable production, trade and use of palm oil. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee has created the Global Environmental Impacts of Consumption indicator, which includes analysis of the impact of palm oil in global supply chains. The indicator estimates that UK consumption of palm oil drove 2,800 hectares of deforestation in 2022. We recognise the urgency of taking action to ensure that UK consumption of forest risk commodities is not driving deforestation. Oil palm is a very efficient crop, producing more oil per hectare than other vegetable oil crops. Substitution of other oils which typically require significantly more land to produce may lead to greater environmental impacts as more land is converted to agricultural use.

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