It’s in your toothpaste, your chocolate, your lipstick, your detergent, and even your ice cream. In fact, palm oil is in more than 50 percent of all packaged products sold in America’s grocery stores, and the ingredient, when not responsibly sourced, is wreaking havoc on our environment.  Sadly, this issue over palm oil production isn’t new and large corporations that promised to source this ingredient transparently and responsibly, like Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson&Johnson, and PepsiCo, are not upholding their end of the bargain.

Tropically grown, palm oil originated in Western Africa, but can thrive anywhere that heat and rain are plentiful. Today, according to Say No to Palm Oil, crops are “grown throughout Africa, Asia, North America, and South America, with 85 percent of all palm oil globally produced and exported from Indonesia and Malaysia, but most of the time not using sustainable measures.”  Although this doesn’t sound malicious, the impact on the environment and its residents, both human and animal, is truly devastating.

The World Wildlife Federation claims “palm oil is the most widely consumed vegetable oil on the planet,” and because of this, the demand for usable land in order to grow crops has risen drastically. Uncontrolled and unregulated clearing of these forests done to make way for palm oil plantations has resulted in the destruction of the biodiversity and ecosystems in the countries where it is produced. This has not only affected native species who called the forests home, but it is also believed to be a significant contributor to climate change. Moreover, the removal process is known to involve the burning of healthy trees and undergrowth, letting off large amounts of smoke and polluting its surroundings, “making Indonesia the third highest greenhouse gas emitter in the world,” says Say No to Palm Oil.

Many of the 300,000 different animals and wildlife that inhabit the jungles of Borneo and Sumatra are injured, killed, and displaced during deforestation practices used to clear land to make way for palm oil plantations. Orangutans in particular have been severely victimized, with government data showing that more than 50,000 have already died over the course of twenty years as a direct result of palm oil production. It’s said that orangutans have been found buried alive, while others have been killed from machete, guns, and other weapons, and mothers are specifically targeted by poachers so that their babies can be taken or sold as pets or entertainment for tourism parks.

Although the lure of the palm oil trade is one that claims to benefit the native people by bringing development to poor regions, the effects are actually quite the opposite. Governments allow these large corporations to seize land from the indigenous people for their own financial benefit. Furthermore, palm oil is believed to be linked to child labor in Indonesia and Malaysia who are afflicted by heat exhaustion, cuts and bruises, and little to no pay for their efforts.

So how is this perpetuated by big businesses? According to a recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald, the large corporations that formerly promised their consumers to make a serious effort to phase out irresponsibly sourced palm oil with “no deforestation” pledges are appearing to seriously drop the ball. After a survey of 14 of such companies, the results found that none of them can say with certainty that there is no deforestation being committed by their palm oil suppliers, nor have they published a full list of these suppliers. Three of the companies involved, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson&Johnson, and PepsiCo, are some of the most well-known and worst offenders, not that it comes as any surprise considering these are also the brands that still find the antiquated practice of animal testing acceptable.

Many of these corporations rely on something called GreenPalm certificates endorsed by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which is essentially a lazy attempt at quickly and easily buying “sustainably” sourced palm oil from suppliers that make it seem as though the effort is real, while still opting for regular or irresponsibly sourced product at other times. Greenpeace is said to have criticized both Colgate-Palmolive and PepsiCo for using tactics like these because even with these certificates traceability is poor.

Without action and pressure from consumers, it’s likely that very little will change. Eliminating palm oil entirely would drastically cut back on what you’re able to buy, especially when recalling that there’s an estimated 50 percent of palm oil-containing products in supermarkets, but making small changes, like boycotting the worst offenders or making a concerted effort to do a little research before venturing out to the store could make a big difference. If or until palm oil is required to be identified on labels, it will be up to us as consumers to take a stand against deceptive palm oil production and the devastation it leaves behind.

For a wallet-sized ingredient list of what palm oil can be hidden as in our products, please visit Palm Oil in Disguise.

Let us know your thoughts on palm oil production by visiting the EcoSalon Facebook page.

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Images of Mother and Baby Orangutan, Palm Oil Fruit, and Palm Oil Fruit Truck via Shutterstock

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ColumnAfter years of controversy over widespread palm oil use, sustainable palm oil is being adopted by the world’s leading manufacturers, from small organic, eco brands to big time producers like Nestlé. But is it really sustainable? We go Behind the Label to find out.

Palm oil is a vegetable-based oil that derives from Africa’s palm oil tree. It’s now grown throughout Africa, Asia, South and North America. But today, the majority of commercial palm oil hails from Indonesia and Malaysia.

You’ll find palm oil in a number of processed foods from chocolates and baked goods to frozen foods. While the majority of it is used in food production, it’s also used in personal care and cosmetics, as well as in biodiesel. About 50 million tons of palm oil are produced annually, which accounts for about 30 percent of the world’s vegetable oil. And even though a number of companies are replacing palm oil, it can still be found in as many as 50 percent of household products in the U.S., Canada, England and Australia.

The Good

Palm oil is a major source of income in Indonesia and Malaysia, where about 87 percent of the world’s palm oil comes from. According to the World Wildlife Fund, palm oil “creates rural employment and is a crop smallholder farmers can grow easily, often lifting people in rural regions out of poverty. It’s crucial for the rest of the world too: companies everywhere depend on the unique properties of palm oil for their products.”

After awareness grew over palm oil’s connection to a number of issues including deforestation, habitat destruction, animal cruelty, indigenous rights abuses and climate change, “sustainable” palm oil arose as an ethical option. The RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) emerged in 2004 with a sustainable palm oil certification program. Its goal is to unite businesses that rely on palm oil with environmental and social non-government organizations. It has brought awareness to many of the issues connected with sourcing palm oil, and has helped companies to sign on to source “sustainable palm oil.” There are more than 850 members of the RSPO and two certification options for sustainably sourced palm oil. “Both approaches classify sustainable plantations as those not grown on land cleared of tropical rainforest after November 2005,” reports Vice.

As more awareness over the issues with palm oil production came to light, more and more companies began making commitments to sourcing sustainable palm oil—meaning palm oil that does not contribute to deforestation and habitat loss for both indigenous animals and cultures. The orangutan, which once thrived in Indonesia’s forests, is now the endangered poster animal for the sustainable palm oil industry as clear cutting forests for palm plantations continues to destroy the primate’s home.

In 2010, after pressure from Greenpeace and other groups, Nestlé committed to stop sourcing palm oil from producers that cause rainforest destruction. It’s just one example of dozens of major brands that have sustainable palm oil commitments. The Hershey Company, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Mars, Unilever and IKEA, also have sustainable palm initiatives, working with the RSPO to source 100 percent sustainable palm oil.

Other companies have taken the commitment even further, like Alaffia, a personal care brand that sources and produces its skin and hair care products in Togo. Working with African farmers, Alaffia sources its palm fruits from small family farms, which company spokesperson Kelsey Mayer told EcoSalon must meet strict standards including small farm size, organic farming methods and no child labor. “Farmers are paid Fair Trade prices for the palm fruits,” says Mayer. Then, the palm fruits head to a Fair Trade Certified cooperative in Sokodé, where “cooperative members are paid a fair wage for their work.”

Not only is Alaffia’s model a true example of sustainability by working with small-scale farmers, but Mayer says this method also produces a higher quality product. “When palm oil is grown as an industrial plantation crop, such as in Indonesia and Malaysia on newly cleared rainforests or peat-swamp forests rather than on already degraded land or disused agricultural land, it can contribute to the endangerment of animals, such as the orangutans,” she says. “Furthermore, since our palm oil fruits are hand-picked and our oil is hand-pressed, the environmental impact is significantly lower than that harvested on plantations. Oil palms are native to West Africa (where there are no orangutans), and have been grown as part of multi-cropped sustainable small farms for centuries.”

And Mayer explains the Alaffia palm oil method produces a healthier product too: “The palm oil retains all of its natural benefits, including high vitamin levels and antioxidant properties, which it loses in the refining process.”

Dr. Bronner’s, which makes soaps and other personal care items, says that since 2006, it has shifted over 95 percent of its raw agricultural material to sources that are certified Fair Trade and organic (FTO), including Fair Trade palm oil. “We wanted to know who makes our raw materials and ensure that fair prices and wages are paid, and their production benefits the local community and environment,” the company explains on its website.

palm oil plantation worker image via Shutterstock

The Bad

Despite sustainability commitments from the world’s top palm oil using companies, a 2007 Greenpeace investigation, detailed in the report “Cooking the Climate” found that RSPO members still source palm oil from suppliers who destroy rainforest and convert peatlands into palm plantations. According to Greenpeace, one Indonesian palm refiner, Duta Palma, actually has legal rights to create palm plantations on land that’s otherwise protected by the government from the palm industry.

And while Nestlé’s commitment to RSPO and sustainable palm oil earned it accolades in 2010, just last year Greenpeace and The Rainforest Action Network say the company’s commitment actually allows deforestation. According to Food Navigator, “deforestation will continue to be allowed while members of the [Sustainable Palm Oil Manifesto] determine what forests can be developed or protected, under the High Carbon Stock (HCS) Approach.”

Greenpeace helped to develop HCS, which combines carbon and biodiversity conservation. It also supports rights for communities dependent on the palm oil industry, as well as the forests and lands where palm plantations are being introduced.

And according to Vice, it’s not just the conventional brands contributing to the palm oil issue: “Chemical companies are part of the problem because they are using ever-larger quantities of palm oil to make the “green” products demanded by consumers.”

Now, conservationists say RSPO members can do more to ensure they’re purchasing truly sustainable palm oil. Several years ago, 200 of the world’s leading scientists asked the RSPO to ban any future palm plantations that are developed on peat lands or in place of old-growth forests.

“It is vital that the RSPO add these requirements to the principles and criteria immediately to ensure that all palm oil being sold with the label ‘sustainable’ is not driving climate change and forest destruction,” the scientists wrote. But the RSPO has yet to take action on making either of these measures part of its sustainable palm oil protocol.

The Bottom Line

While companies like Alaffia and Dr. Bronner’s are redefining what the sustainable palm oil industry can look like, not all who claim to source sustainable palm oil are making as big an impact. A consumer is not always going to have the full story in front of them when making a purchase. In fact, the opposite is more likely true: consumers are often forced to take brands at their word, which is usually glossed over with a marketing sheen.

Fortunately, there are now a number of resources for the consumer who wants more information. There’s the WWF scorecard, and several smart phone apps that can help answer questions about a brand’s commitment to palm oil.

And, there are palm oil alternatives, most notably coconut oil, which is appearing in a number of products in place of palm oil.

Use your voice to let brands know that deforestation, habitat loss and unfair labor conditions aren’t acceptable. Boycott those products until brands make the shift. Companies are making major changes to their brands and product offerings when consumers demand they do so.

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

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Top palm oil image via Shutterstock

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Orangutans are some of the world’s most threatened species. You’ve got junk food to thank for that–the palm oil industry is chopping down forests at alarming rates. And when the forests fall, so do the homes of these beautiful creatures (of whom we share 97 percent of the same genetic material).

GoPro has helped to remind us why these animals deserve better. We get an orangutan’ view on the forest canopies they call home, and what it’s like to lose that.

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Image: Hadi Zaher

The post If You Love Junk Food and Cuddly Orangutans, You Need to Watch This [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

Anthropologist Margaret Mead once said: “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

If you’ve ever doubted this, look no further than Cadbury chocolate.

Last month we reported that Cadbury decided to add palm oil to its chocolate in Australia and New Zealand. The company insisted it was doing so not to save money but to “improve” its chocolate as the palm oil produced a “softer” product than chocolate made with real cocoa butter.

The reaction of the Australian and Kiwi public to such obvious spin was scathing. Furious chocolate lovers organised anti-Cadbury campaigns on Facebook and Twitter and the issue hit the national news on both sides of the Tasman Sea.

Every foodie knows that palm oil is a cheap and inferior substitute for cocoa butter, but the real concern for environmentalists was the fact that palm oil production is linked to deforestation and habitat destruction in South-East Asia and Africa. Cadbury insisted it would buy only sustainably-produced palm oil but this claim was dubious at best, something our original post explains in far more detail.

Thankfully, Cadbury has bowed to public pressure and the Australian press is reporting that the company has decided to remove palm oil from the chocolate recipe. A victory for people power!

What does Cadbury have to say about this? Both the main Cadbury Australia and New Zealand sites are curiously silent but have deleted the sections on why palm oil is so wonderful from the frequently asked questions.

However, Cadbury has responded to the criticism on its Choclovers.com website – not to be confused with the Choclovers.org protest site. The Choclovers.com site carries a press release quoting Cadbury New Zealand managing director Matthew Oldham, said the decision to go back to using only cocoa butter in Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate was in direct response to consumer feedback.

“At the time, we genuinely believed we were making the right decision, for the right reasons. But we got it wrong. Now we’re putting things right as soon as we possibly can, and hope Kiwis will forgive us. Cadbury Dairy Milk’s quality is what’s made it one of New Zealand’s most trusted brands for many years. Changing the recipe put that trust at risk and I am really sorry.”

Cadbury cited “passionate comments via social media environments” and confirmed the decision covered Australia as well. There is no sign that Cadbury intends to reverse its decision to downsize from 250g to 200g – but the company maintains that it has decreased its wholesale price accordingly.

It is probably no coincidence that the company has also joined Twitter since the furor broke – tweeting as @cadbury_aunz since August 13. Via the Twitter account, the company has acknowledged it was “wrong” and had gone back to its original recipe after strong feedback from consumers. The company also mentioned the UK business was Fair Trade-certified and other businesses would follow.

Social media gives consumers more power than ever, making it easier for that “small group of thoughtful people” to change the world. Cadbury has learned this the hard way – but good on them for doing the right thing in the end.

Image: Vlad the Impala

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Global demand for palm oil, used as the main ingredient in processed foods, soaps and cosmetics, has resulted in the clearing of many ancient rainforests to make way for palm oil plantations. As a result, indigenous people are being displaced, the native orangutan population is heading for extinction and the area’s fragile ecosystem is being jeopardized.

While some companies such as Cadbury are paying no attention and are actually increasing their use of palm oil, others such as LUSH Cosmetics are very concerned and plan on finding ways to stop using this destructive ingredient altogether.

This week, LUSH cosmetics launched an innovative campaign to make the public aware of what the increased demand for palm oil is doing to rainforests in Malaysia and Indonesia.

It’s a multifaceted campaign:

First, LUSH Cosmetics announced plans to become a palm oil-free company, selling a newly-formulated soap made with groundbreaking palm-free soap base. This palm oil-free soap, three years in the making, will result in LUSH being able to reduce the amount of palm oil they use by 133,000 pounds or 60.5 tons per year – the equivalent of saving 36.3 acres of primary rainforest from destruction.

Secondly, LUSH is writing to the top 300 known palm oil user companies (such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Nestle) and asking them to follow LUSH’s lead and reformulate their products so that they, too, are palm oil-free. As an incentive, LUSH is offering to supply each company who does this with a year’s supply of soap.

Thirdly, LUSH has launched an interactive window display at 48 shops across the United States during August. At each display, which features a giant palm tree, orangutans and the slogan “Wash Your Hands of Palm,” people are invited to dip their hands in green paint and add their palm prints into leaves on the palm tree. The paint is then washed off with LUSH’s new palm-oil free soap. Plus, they will be given a free sample soap to take home with them.

LUSH is also selling a limited-edition tree shaped soap called Jungle with 100 percent of proceeds from its sales donated to the Rainforest Foundation, a nonprofit that works with indigenous people to protect their forest homes from expanding palm oil plantations.

Images: arabin, Greenpeace, LUSH

The post LUSH Cosmetics in a Lather Over Palm Oil appeared first on EcoSalon.

As the recession cuts deeper into the profits of big food companies, many brands are downsizing their portions in a bid to cut costs. In some cases, they are also downgrading their ingredients. But as chocolate giant Cadbury is discovering – you mess with your iconic brands at your peril.

Cadbury’s current advertising campaign involves eyebrow gymnastics from two children. Meanwhile, it has made some eyebrow-raising changes to the formulation of its popular Dairy Milk block in Australia and New Zealand. The new chocolate block is smaller, contains fewer cocoa solids (you know, the part that actually makes it chocolate) and it contains environmentally destructive palm oil. It now finds itself at the centre of a PR storm, having incurred the wrath of shoppers, foodies and environmentalists alike. Whittakers, a rival chocolate brand in New Zealand, is taking advantage of the furore with this comparative shopping ad.

The first change is simple – the 250g block now weighs just 200g. The packaging has been redesigned and the squares of chocolate shrunken so the block actually appears to be the same size. Chocolate lovers are furious at the resizing and the fact that the price has not dropped accordingly and have formed a protest site, at choclovers.org, and have been spreading the message via Twitter and a Facebook protest group. Cadbury says in the FAQ on its website (Australia and New Zealand) that it has actually reduced the wholesale price but it’s up to retailers whether to pass it on.

Product resizing is annoying for consumers but nothing new – and given that people eat more when the serving sizes are bigger, it might not be such a bad thing for the public health. It’s the second change that is more concerning from an environmentalist’s point of view.

Cadbury has reduced the amount of cocoa solids from 26% to 21% and added nasty vegetable fats – specifically palm oil – to compensate. The company claims that it’s done this, not to save costs as you might think, but to improve the customer experience.

We have done this for a number of reasons. Primarily it is because our consumers have been telling us that we could improve their enjoyment of our chocolate by making it slightly softer to bite. Vegetable fat helps deliver this softness whilst at the same time maintaining our chocolate’s great taste.

As a chocolate lover myself, I’m not so credulous that I believe that Cadbury has done this for my benefit. I know a bit about food and chocolate and there is no doubt that palm oil is a poor substitute for the real thing. I am pretty sure most chocolate fans would feel the same way – despite what Cadbury’s “independent research” might show. I’m probably not their market, though – I tend to go for more quality brands such as Green & Black’s, the organic brand now owned by Cadbury, and Lindt.

However, there are millions of people who do buy Cadbury chocolate so the formulation of their products is part of a bigger problem. The forests of southeast Asia have been ravaged by deforestation, spelling disaster for wildlife such as orangutans and tigers and for the climate. Palm oil production is one of the leading causes of this – both historically and currently.

The main customers of palm oil are food manufacturers looking for cheap fats – though demand is also rising because of its utility as a biofuel. The rainforest of the Congo could be next, with China set to establish a giant palm oil plantation in the African country. It is ironic that Cadbury’s last big advertising campaign involved a gorilla.

Cadbury claims:

We are Board members of the RSPO [Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil] and purchase Green Palm certificates that independently certify the fact that the palm oil we purchase has come from sustainable sources.

The RSPO has a set of standards, its Principles & Criteria, that define practices for sustainable palm oil production. These include the use of appropriate best practices by growers and millers, the responsible development of new plantings and environmental responsibility and the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity.

All well and good, except that the RSPO is widely regarded as greenwash – members have to do little more than pay a membership fee. Even the bible for big business, the Wall Street Journal reports that it’s a problem. The Green Palm Certificates, meanwhile, allow backers to invest in sustainable production without necessarily using the product. Even if Cadbury could be certain that it is buying palm oil from sustainable sources, which is dubious, it is still creating new demand for palm oil. Replacing existing palm oil for a ‘sustainable’ alternative is one thing, but it does not help matters if it is additional consumption.

No one seems convinced – and the backlash is huge. In most recent news, the Auckland Zoo has stopped stocking Cadbury, in the name of the orangutans.

Image via Treehugger

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First up, hate throwing away pill bottles? I do – and ditto the capsules that 35mm film came in before we went digital. Put them all to good reuse instead.

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We’ve talked about the problem of palm oil before. The Independent has undertaken a two-month investigation, and concludes that even more palm oil is being use than originally thought – finding it in 43 of 100 of Britain’s top grocery brands, no less.

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Image: Szymon Blasczczyk

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