Cadbury Animals Mini Biscuits, 139.3g

Product Information

Wheat Flour, Sugar, Vegetable Oils (Palm, Rapeseed), Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Mass, Skimmed Milk Powder, Fat Reduced Cocoa Powder 1.4 %, Whey Permeate (from Milk), Milk Fat, Raising Agents (Sodium Carbonates, Diphosphates, Ammonium Carbonates), Salt, Emulsifiers (E442, E476), Flavourings

Sugar beet is grown in many parts of Europe including the UK. You might think, then, that it would provide an easy ethical alternative to cane sugar. Think again. McVitie’s dominates the UK biscuits market with a quarter of market share and six of its biscuits in the top ten by sales. Dublin 5.

Net Content

7 x 19.9g e

Storage

Store in a dry place. Nairn’s is a medium-sized company using 100% RSPO segregated palm oil (which is a higher standard of certification) Sugar made from beet is chemically identical to sugar made from cane, and the sweet stuff in your biscuits could come from either plant with no difference in the labelling.In the UK, all sugar beet grown by farmers is processed by British Sugar, owner of the Silver Spoon brand and a subsidiary of Associated British Foods which also owns Ryvita. In January 2021, British Sugar, together with the National Farmers’ Union, successfully lobbied the government for authorisation to use a pesticide containing the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam which has been banned by the EU for all outdoor use since 2018 because of its negative environmental impacts, particularly the harm it does to bees. The sugar beet crop was under threat from a potentially devastating disease called virus yellows. Once cooled, dip half of the biscuit in the melted chocolate and add sprinkles. Put in the fridge to chill until set.

Place the cut out animal shapes onto a baking tray and place in the oven (by an adult helper), baking for 13-15 mins or until they are light golden brown. Yildiz is the owner of Pladis Foods (who own United Biscuits), whose brands include McVitie’s, Crawford’s, Jacob’s and Carr’s biscuits.Some of the biscuit brands included in this guide are deliberately vegan and are made by fully vegan companies such as Mr Organic and Lazy Day Foods. But many of our old favourites are also vegan by chance. For readers who prefer to avoid palm oil, below is a list of palm oil free biscuits. We’ve only included the companies that receive our best rating for palm oil or are entirely palm oil free, because we think it’s important to consider what the company is doing as a whole. Some other brands and most supermarkets also have palm oil free options. Palm oil rating and biscuits Brand (and palm rating) Kallo ( Ecotone Group) – Dark chocolate topped rice cakes and all rice, corn, lentil and veggie cakes except cocoa, date and vanilla. Palm oil is widely used in many processed foods, including biscuits. Its mass production has been very damaging environmentally and been linked to workers’ and human rights abuses. Lazy Day Foods* – All biscuits. (All biscuits are palm oil free, but company uses palm oil in some other products like tiffin and slices.)

Hill’s Biscuits – Chocolate creams, fruit shortcake, shortie, ginger nuts, lemon cream, ginger rings, orange creams, digestive creams, bourbon creams, ginger fingers, oaties, fig rolls, nice, fruit shortcake, rich tea. Island Bakery, Lazy Day, Doves Farm and Windmill Organics (owner of Amisa and Biona) also receive a best rating.

How biscuit brands scored for other ratings

Just eight companies received our best rating: Mr Organic, Lazy Day Foods, Island Bakery, Duchy Originals, John Lewis (Waitrose), Co-op, M&S and Ferrero (but not Burton’s which make most of its brands). The first four are small companies that provide products we considered to be environmental alternatives because they were vegan or organic. This doesn't mean they are without environmental criticisms though. Tax Avoidance Ethical Consumer’s cocoa rating requires companies who use cocoa to demonstrate that all their suppliers are certified by one of two voluntary certification schemes: Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance (which includes UTZ). Given its powerful position, some farmers have criticised British Sugar for not focusing research on the development of non-harmful alternatives to neonicotinoids and on the sustainable production of sugar beet more g enerally. In the end, thiamethoxam wasn’t used this year because the threat to the sugar beet crop was lower than expected. However, the issue hasn’t gone away. Rising temperatures caused by climate change mean that the aphids which carry the virus are more likely to survive the winter and the problem may occur again next year. Overall, the average amount of sugar in biscuits has dropped by a tiny percentage (under 2%, from 2015 baseline to 2019) and campaign group Action on Sugar argue that the voluntary scheme isn’t working. They continue to push for compulsory sugar reduction. Human rights overlooked in sugar production