Skip to main content

The Sweet Side of Saving Gibbons: the perils of palm oil

Indulge in the sweet side of saving gibbons this Easter by reading the labels of all the chocolate and candy products you buy to ensure they are palm-oil free.

Palm oil is pretty much everywhere, it’s one of the most widely used vegetable oils in the world, and a very popular choice amongst manufacturers due to its high yield and versatility. But there are alternatives if you look for them and it just takes a few extra seconds to scan the label of the products you buy to ensure they are palm oil free.


Why do we recommend avoiding palm oil completely?

Sadly palm oil development for global consumption is the main culprit fueling deforestation in South-East Asia. The top three regions where palm oil is produced are: Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, where more than 85% of the global supply of palm oil is grown. The industry is linked to major environmental and humanitarian issues driving deforestation, habitat degradation, climate change, animal cruelty and indigenous rights abuses in the countries where it is produced, as the land and forests must be cleared for the development of the oil palm plantations.

In December 2014, new European Union laws made it mandatory for palm oil to be included on product labeling and not hidden as generic vegetable oils. But that’s still not the case in other parts of the world, so here’s a handy list of palm oil ingredients to look for when reading labels to ensure the products you buy are palm-oil free.

Note: This list is not exhaustive of all the alternative names for palm oil and not exclusive to food products (e.g. sodium lauryl sulphate is a foaming agent found in soaps & detergents), but it's a good start and can be used when reading the labels of all the products you buy to ensure they are palm oil free. 

INGREDIENTS & DERIVATIVES CONTAINING PALM OIL:

·         Vegetable Oil
·      Vegetable Fat
·      Palm Kernel
·      Palm Kernel Oil
·      Palm Fruit Oil
·      Palmate
·      Palmitate
·      Palmolein
·      Glyceryl
·      Stearate
·      Stearic Acid
·      Elaeis Guineensis
·      Palmitic Acid
·      Palm Stearine
·      Palmitoyl Oxostearamide
·      Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3
·      Sodium Laureth Sulfate
·      Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
·      Sodium Kernelate
·      Sodium Palm Kernelate
·      Sodium Lauryl
·      Lactylate/Sulphate
·      Hyrated Palm Glycerides
·      Etyl Palmitate
·      Octyl Palmitate
·      Palmityl Alcohol

Be sure to pick up one of our handy "Perils of Palm Oil" tips cards at one of our next events for the perforated wallet card version of this list that you can carry with you to the grocery store for every visit!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life Under the Canopy - Survival Tips for Primate Research.

All too often students begin fieldwork full of anticipation and high hopes for big adventure, only to end up burned out and on their way home within a month. This has inspired me to write a post about what it takes to survive primate behavioural research for people who may be considering taking this "road less traveled by" in the future. I won't water it down for you; primate research is not for everyone. Fieldwork is an uphill road, overloaded with obstacles that will test your personal strength every step of the way. (Perhaps there's a reason we opted to leave the forest and culture up our lives, oh so many years ago :). But if you've got what it takes to push yourself beyond the comforts of the average everyday world, and you're interested in finding out just how strong an individual you really are, then studying primates is one of the most inspirational and rewarding jobs available! Think you've got what it takes? Here are my tips for what it
4 comments
Read more

Jane Goodall, Gibbons, and A Little Girl’s Dream.

Many people ask me how I got into studying gibbons for a living, and quite honestly there is no direct answer to that question, because it wasn’t a direct route. When I was growing up in Burlington, I wanted to be many things: first on the list (so I’m told by my parents) was a “ballerina hockey player” but that’s too far back for me to even remember saying, and I don’t really dance or skate these days so that was probably a bit of a stretch. One clear target that I do know from as far back as I can remember is that I always wanted to get my PhD. By the time I was about 4 or 5 years old, I had firmly established in my mind that I wanted to be called “Dr. Prime” when I grew up because that’s my Dad’s name (he has a PhD in chemistry), and I wanted to be like my Dad. So from the moment I first started school until this very day, that destination has always firmly held the course, and thus likely guided the navigation parameters since then. The rest of the story follows with many sente
6 comments
Read more

First day following monkeys... I miss the gibbons.

Here's the guy I was following today: Look at this little cutie that couldn't stay awake while everyone else was frolicking in the trees.
2 comments
Read more