A global sunflower oil shortage could have major impacts on Ireland’s favourite snack.
Sunflower oil is a key ingredient in Tayto crisps, however there are reports of supply issues because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia produce most of the world's sunflower oil, with the war said to be disrupting exports.
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Last week, Britain’s largest cooking oil bottler Edible Oils said it is “running out” of sunflower oil and only has a few weeks of supply left. As a result, the firm said it is turning to other oils to keep things running.
A spokesperson told the BBC: "So obviously, with everything going on out there, we physically can't get sunflower to be coming out of the country.
“From a UK consumer perspective, sunflower oil is the biggest oil. It's used more than anything else. It's a fast moving situation. We're still trying to see if we can get some more but it's looking very tight.
"At the moment, Ukrainian farmers should be sowing the seeds now for the harvest in October and November. Clearly that's not going to happen… we're probably going to miss the season so we could be impacted for 12 to 18 months."
Sunflower oil is found in a range of everyday products, but one food that is particularly reliant on it is crisps.
As a result of the shortage, some crisp manufacturers in the UK have been forced to alter their recipes and replace sunflower oil with refined rapeseed oil.
This has seen prices for rapeseed oil rise in Britain, resulting in some businesses having to pass the price onto consumers.
Tayto prints on its label that it is “cooked in 100% sunflower oil”.
A post on its website reads: “All of Tayto Snacks crisps are cooked in hi-oleic sunflower oil. Hi-oleic Sunflower oil is low in saturated fat and a key contributor to vitamin E.
“Sunflower oil is light in taste, contains more Vitamin E than any other vegetable oil and is high in polyunsaturated and low in saturated fat.”
A spokesperson for Tayto told the Irish Mirror it had “no comment” to make when asked whether it was impacted by the global sunflower oil supply issues, and whether it may be forced to up its price or if it was at risk of running out of oil.
It comes as some European countries have started rationing the sale of sunflower oil in supermarkets, with Spain only allowing five litres to be bought per customer.
The European Commission has said it is aware of the situation but does not want to impose a bloc-wide ration for fear that it will be interpreted as meaning that food is in short supply.
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