Ukraine's parliament outlaws use of palm oil for food production

Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada on May 15 passed bill No. 3871 at first reading to amend some Ukrainian laws to outlaw the use of palm oil for food production.

Some 233 Members of Parliament backed the bill with the minimum required number set at 226 votes.

In particular, the draft law amends Articles 6 and 21 of the law of Ukraine on milk and dairy foods and Article 27 of the law of Ukraine on safety and quality of foods.

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What is more, the bill proposes amending the Code of Administrative Offenses of Ukraine by introducing the administrative punishment for the production of food with the use of palm oil and the sale of food with palm oil content.

The violation of these food production standards implies a fine from 20 to 100 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens (UAH 17) imposed on the management of companies and organizations irrespective of their form of ownership, individual owners of enterprises or their authorized representatives.

The repeated violation committed during one year after the first fine entails a fine from 100 to 200 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens.

As UNIAN reported, Ukraine imported 145,700 tonnes of palm oil for the first nine months of the 2016-2017 marketing year (September 2016 through August 2017), compared to 136,200 tonnes in the same period of the previous marketing year.

Ukraine's key suppliers of palm oil are Malaysia and Indonesia.