RAN petition demands more action and transparency from Nissin Foods

On March 21, environmental NGO Rainforest Action Network RAN initiated a petition urging Nissin Foods to address forest destruction, human rights violations, and illegal plantation development with a sense of urgency. The message is: “Nissin Foods, 2030 is too late. Stop problematic palm oil now! For the Earth and the future, Do It Now!”

In June 2020, Nissin Foods announced an ambitious goal to achieve a 100% sustainable palm oil procurement rate by 2030. Fast forward to March 2023, and the company has managed to improve the target for domestic instant noodles to 2025, yet the target for other procurements remains 2030.

As it stands, the company’s group-wide RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) certified palm oil usage rate is approximately 36%. But there’s a catch. The “mass balance” method employed by Nissin Foods under RSPO muddles certified palm oil with problematic palm oil, leaving forest destruction and human rights violations unresolved.

RAN’s investigations reveal the inadequacy of Nissin Foods’ response system for problematic palm oil. The list of palm oil mills supplying the company includes mills receiving palm oil from illegal development areas and companies causing deforestation.

The Change.org petition urges Nissin Foods to expedite its target year and formulate transparent implementation plans for eradicating problematic palm oil from its supply chain. It puts forth four demands directed at Nissin Foods Holdings President and CEO Hiroki Ando and US Nissin President Michael Price: announcing a binding plan with an advanced 2030 deadline for excluding problematic palm oil, disclosing all palm oil suppliers’ information, monitoring supplier policy compliance and instituting an independent verification mechanism, and explicitly stating that NDPE policies are applicable to suppliers in procurement policies for all forest-risk products containing palm oil.

Yukio Kawakami, Japan representative of RAN, suggests that “the target year of 2030 seems to expose a lack of crisis awareness and weak resolve to address the issues among management.” He warns that if Nissin Foods continues its current procurement practices, the climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, and serious human rights violations will persist. “This is not in line with the goal of a global company aiming to be an Earth Food Creator contributing to the people and the planet through food, and it may betray the expectations of many consumers.”