“In many cases we can replace it with rapeseed oil,” says managing director Richard Walker. “But there are some recipes where the only viable substitute for sunflower oil, either because of its processing properties or taste issues, turns out to be palm oil.”

From June, due to the situation in Ukraine, certified sustainable palm oil will temporarily make a comeback in a limited range of Iceland own-label products.

“I haven’t changed my mind about palm oil,” says Walker. “Massively increasing global demand for palm oil inevitably means continuing pressure on the globally important tropical rainforest areas where it is grown, and I therefore remain sceptical as to whether there ever really can be any such thing as truly ‘sustainable palm oil’ available in the mass market where Iceland operates.”

Palm oil production has increased rapidly over the past 50 years. Some 71m tonnes were produced globally in 2018, up from 2m tonnes in 1970, according to Our World in Data, with the vast majority from Indonesia and Malaysia. The EU is the third largest importer, after China and India.

Experts say substitution in industrial processes is difficult, especially if palm oil was to be replaced with oils grown in temperate countries: sunflower or rapeseed oil is not suited to products such as soaps, detergents or cosmetics.

Last week, the UK food watchdog gave the green light to food manufacturers to replace sunflower oil with refined rapeseed oil to avoid gaps on shelves, and update the packaging and labels as they go along.

In normal times, the practice is forbidden as it could lead to allergic reactions, but episodes are “very rare” and “mild” in response to rapeseed oil, the Food Standards Agency believes.

The move is designed to ensure that certain foods such as crisps, breaded fish, frozen vegetables and chips, remain on sale.

In Spain, meanwhile, they have ramped up the production of olive oil to make up for the lack of sunflower oil.

Kate Halliwell, chief scientific officer at the Food and Drink Federation, warned that over the coming months “unpredictable ingredient shortages will make further changes to recipes.”

One temporary solution could be to limit the production of biofuel for a couple of months, says Lewis, who is also the head of the National Edible Oil Distributors’ Association. The renewable fuel is made from a mixture of modified vegetable oils.

“It is becoming a ‘food versus fuel’ debate, and although in normal times we would expect to get a good combination of food and renewable energy, at the moment we want governments to take the lead. That could resolve the situation pretty much overnight,” he says.

“The big drivers on the continent are Germany and France. When you’ve got this situation it just seems crazy to either burn 60pc of palm or use 50pc plus of rapeseed to go in a non-food application.”

For now, companies will have to opt for the next best thing when it comes to ingredients and hope that customers won’t stage a boycott as the fallout from the war in Ukraine further spills into the food supply chain.