The dirt on Palm Oil

[Nick Potter]

A recent article from The Independent newspaper in the UK makes important reading:

"It's an invisible ingredient, really, palm oil. You won't find it listed on your margarine, your bread, your biscuits or your KitKat. It's there though, under "vegetable oil". And its impact, 7,000 miles away, is very visible indeed. The wildlife-rich forests of Indonesia and Malaysia are being chain-sawed to make way for palm-oil plantations. Thirty square miles are felled daily in a burst of habitat destruction that is taking place on a scale and speed almost unimaginable in the West. When the rainforests disappear almost all of the wildlife – including the orangutans, tigers, sun bears, bearded pigs and other endangered species – and indigenous people go. In their place come palm-oil plantations stretching for mile after mile, producing cheap oil – the cheapest cooking oil in the world – for everyday food."

This is an environmental issue and a human rights issue (due to the effects on indigenous peoples). You can find the article here.

UK brands that use un-certified palm oil include Cadbury, Unilever, Nestle, Wrigleys, Mars and Kelloggs - though I have not investigated their products in New Zealand.
[UPDATE July 2009 - see discussion on Cadbury NZ below]

Auckland Zoo has a continuing campaign about the use of non-sustainable palm oil, because of the rainforest destruction and effect on natural orangutan habitat. You may wish to contact them if you'd like to support a campaign.

[Nick Holmes]

I've wanted to know more on palm oil for a while now. It's a perfect example of how consumers could make or break an industry, and bring about sustainable forest management.. but do you think that passes their minds when they're eyeing off the eight flavours of 49c Mee Goreng?

OK.. after some reading, this. is. disgusting.

thats a small portion of Sumatra from google maps, and the whole forest is like that. shit. shit.

[Billy Matheson]

Lost in Palm Oil



2007 Documentary by Inge Altemeier. She has been a successful journalist and a filmmaker for over 15 years. She has co-produced films on global development with her partner Reinhard Hornung and specialises in evironmental issues and global investigative stories.

"Lost in Palmoil is the essence of a work we initiated in 1998. At the time we produced the film Pulp Friction and witnessed the rainforests of Sumatra chopped down to nourish the pulp and paper industry. I was invited to show the film on several occasions and returned to the area, where the pulp and paper companies had publicly promised to grow new acchazia trees. Unfortunately, I found a huge palmoil monoculture.

Throughout this period, my relationship with the local inhabitants developed further, whilst learning Bahasa, the Indonesian language. Learning the language formed a special bond with the inhabitants, by uniting us further and standing together to witness the destruction of Indonesia’s unique rainforests. I felt the earth shaking when the trees were felt and experienced the smog, when significant areas of the rainforest was burnt. Further investigation led to the discovery of the involvement of Western governments and some European banks, which left me feeling totally helpless against this tide of money."

[Nick Potter]

Cadbury New Zealand just cut back on cocoa butter in their products - and replaced it with palm oil (as this TV3 article highlights). Although they claim that all palm oil is sourced from sustainable sources, at least one petition is challenging Cadbury to provide proof of this.

In March, Cadbury UK made a great move to source all their cocoa from fairtrade sources, and there have been hints that Cadbury NZ will follow their lead. That would be something to celebrate.

In the meantime, this is my NZ-made chocolate of choice.

[Nick Potter]

Update from below: In August Cadbury decided to remove palm oil from their products (you can follow the discussion as it unfolded in this forum).

Then Cadbury went one step further and announced that the cocoa in their chocolate will come from certified fair trade sources from next year onwards.

Well done Cadbury! Time for a celebration indeed!

[Nick Potter]

Auckland Zoo has initiated a boycott of Cadbury Chocolate because of their use of palm oil:

"Auckland Zoo conservation officer Peter Fraser says the problem with palm oil is that to produce it, rainforest is being cleared in South East Asia. That means the endangered orang-utans are losing their habitat and the zoo predicts that if palm oil production continues at its current pace, none of the animals will be left in the wild in 10 years. Keepers at the zoo are also weaning themselves off other products containing palm oil, like Tim Tams, instant noodles, Milo and even shaving cream. The zoo has also published an orang-utan-friendly shopping list on its website...

Cadbury Spokesman Daniel Ellis said ...Cadbury was a member of the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) a body tasked with ensuring responsible and sustainable palm oil crops... New Zealand natural history film-maker Judith Curran was scathing of RSPO, calling it "an incredibly clever public relations exercise". Curran, who spent five years filming orang-utans for the Animal Planet series Orangutan Island, pointed consumers to the Greenpeace website, which claimed RSPO was behind illegal clearing of rainforests."

This issue is getting a lot of attention. You can read this blog in Good Magazine. There is also a facebook site dedicated to this and a clever tool for Twitter users to make it easier for you to let Cadbury know what you think / how you feel about their use of Palm Oil.

[Carly Day]

Hi Nick, awesome blog, very well informed and written!
Thanks very much for the link to my Facebook group and petition.
Awesome the coverage this issue is getting. I think Cadbury really think if they just sit and hide that this issue will blow over but as long as I'm capable I will be fanning the flames until they can either prove without a doubt that they use 100%CSPO or take it out altogether!
Carly

[Nick Potter]

Continuing the discussion on Cadbury and Palm Oil, here's an article in the National Business Review:

"What a shocker of a time to be in advertising/marketing/PR for Cadbury – it’s a real communications nightmare...Cadbury would’ve likely gotten away with it 10 years ago, but things have changed, friends. The consumer isn’t a muppet, for a start... We’re also now in the age of a consumer-enabled technology; the tools are readily available should anyone want to fight back. And fight they have. It started with a Twitter voice and a website, and then a YouTube “product shrinking” demonstration. Bad! Bad! It’s culminated in some shocking PR on Campbell Live and an ad by Kiwi chocolate company Whittaker’s... "

Cadbury seems to have backed itself into a corner and become defensive. Yet they can still change their decision... and even take the higher ground by going Fair Trade in their cocoa supply if they want to be a leader...

[Carl Chenery]

On the Grey Lynn 2030 facebook page, it said that only 4% on the roundtable companies land is under 'sustainable' management. Yet to get a source on this.

Taking a stand on this is a way we can have an impact on climate and livelihoods.
We need to see the end of deforestation.

[Martin Adlington]

The palm kernals the dairy farmers are feeding to cattle during the winter months are from.....????...oil palms??? - this raises the spectre of millions of bottle-fed babies sucking on the life-blood of orangutans - courtesy of Fonterra...please tell me it isn't so.....martin

[Nick Potter]

Uh oh. According to SourceNZ "Palm Kernel Extract is a high quality byproduct produced from the mechanical extraction of oil from the fruit of the Oil Palm".

Rural News suggests that there has been a "huge growth in palm kernel used by dairy farmers" in recent years and that "Of all the components of...supplementary feed, Palm Kernel has been the most popular since it was introduced into New Zealand in 1999. Copra and soya bean meal are more specialist supplements. These imports have increased exponentially each year – from 35,000 tonnes in 2003 to 90,000 tonnes in 2004 to over 200,000 tonnes in 2005."

According to this article, RD1 Nutrition is a major supplier of palm kernel in NZ and it is half owned by Fonterra, and "International Nutrition Ltd was formed as a joint venture between RD1 and Wilmar, which is the world's largest producer of palm oil, of which palm 'kernel is a by-product. Wilmar supplied 85 per cent of all palm kernel imported into New Zealand in 2007.

The steps for producing palm kernels are shown on Wilmar's website. Crude palm oil and palm kernels come from the same source. According to this site, "Wilmar engages in oil palm cultivation in Indonesia and Malaysia. In Indonesia, our plantations are located in Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan (southern region) while in Malaysia, they are located in the states of Sabah and Sarawak."

Imports of palm kernel for feeding stock have recently caused biosecurity concerns too.

These articles suggest that a growing amount of NZ milk is being produced by feeding cows supplements of palm kernel. Fonterra would be well-advised to learn from the consumer backlash that Cadbury is currently experiencing for adding palm oil to their products.

[Raven]

This is truly disturbing, not that palm oil isn't in itself very disturbing but to learn that it has infiltrated our agricultural industries as well is very concerning.

One of the best things NZ agriculture has going for it is that pasture fed animals (excluding chickens and pigs) are the norm. It was not until recently I even knew that it was the norm in other countries to grain feed beef.

To hear that we are now using Palm Oil feed for dairying further re-enforces that the dairy industry is running in unsustainable numbers and at an unsustainable pace. But this doesn't surprise me especially as I remember the kilometer long irrigators i saw in my home of central otago in the McKenzie Basin which is possibly the most ridiculous and silliest place to ever even consider putting dairy cows. We need regionally suited agriculture industries!

[Martin Adlington]

"NZ babies drink orangutang life-blood"