Palm Oil Action : Shopping Guide

shopping guide

How to identify unlabelled Palm Oil

Only 3 vegetable oils must be labelled in food products in Australia and New Zealand. Those are peanut oil, sesame oil and soy bean oil. The reason for this is that a percentage of the population suffers allergies to these oils.

All other vegetable oils can be labelled as vegetable oil. However the label must declare the amount of saturated fat in the product. So if the label states vegetable oil and then goes on to state the amount of saturated fat you can count on that vegetable oil being either palm kernel oil, palm oil or coconut oil. This is a way of potentially identifying if a product has palm oil in it as other vegetable oils are not saturated. This is for Australia and New Zealand only. Labelling may be different in other countries.

Also if palm oil is used in cosmetics it must be labelled. No exceptions. However it is usually not labelled as Palm oil. It is labelled as Elaeis guineensis This is the name given to palm oil by the International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredients. (INCI). Misleading labels on cosmetics can lead to action by the Australian Competition and Consumer Association.

So if you want to avoid buying palm oil, when buying food look for the label stating it is vegetable oil. Then look for saturated fat. If only vegetable oil (no animal fat listed) is used and there is saturated fat in the product - you are buying palm kernel oil, palm oil or coconut oil, most probably palm.

"above information provided by primates4primates quoting Australian Government sources"

Write to Food Manufacturers and Retailers

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Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ), have advised that the application for the labelling of Palm Oil has been rejected. They argue that they have no legal capacity to hear the case. We urge you to write to the Health Minister and tell her that this is not acceptable. Its not a legal but a moral issue. Our argument is as follows.

Deforestation is a major contributor to Global Warming. Palm Oil production is the largest reason for deforestation in Indonesia. The major change needed to avoid continued deforestation could be achieved by reducing the demand for Palm Oil. Reduced demand for Palm Oil is one of the most immediate and cost effective ways of reducing carbon emissions in our region.

Food suppliers seem very reluctant to voluntarily label Palm Oil presumably as they are very aware of the detrimental effect Palm Oil is having on the Environment. We see no reason why the food lobby should be so protected in their goal of keeping this information away from public scrutiny.

The Hon Nicola Roxon Minister for Health and Ageing
Nicola.Roxon.MP@aph.gov.au

Phone: 02 6277 7220
Postal: Suite MG 50
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600)

“Let us remember, always, that we are the consumers. By exercising free choice, by choosing what to buy, what not to buy, we have the power, collectively to change the ethics of the business of industry. We have the potential to exert immense power for good – we each carry it with us, in our purses, cheque books, and credit cards.”

Jane Goodall, “A Reason for Hope”

Palm Oil Action

The relevant companies have verified that all of the products displayed as at 3/4/07 contain palm oil or a palm oil derivative.

Even though these products contain palm oil or palm oil derivatives, the labelling isn't clear. Consumers have a right to know if the oil used in a product is contributing to the destruction of rainforests and the slaughter of wildlife. Insist on knowing if the vegetable oil used is palm oil from Indonesia or Malaysia and if it has been grown sustainably. Food manufacturers can find other ways of making these products however we can't find other ways of making orangutans.

Below are some of the names used to describe palm oil on the back of product ingredients.

Palm Oil names, what to look out for:

Sodium Laureth Sulphate (Can also be from coconut)
Sodium Lauryl Sulphates (can also be from ricinus oil)
Sodium dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS)
Palmate
Palm Oil Kernal
Palmitate

Cosmetics

Elaeis Guineensis
Glyceryl Stearate
Stearic Acid

Chemicals which contain palm oil

Steareth -2
Steareth -20
Sodium Lauryl Sulphate
Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (coconut and/or palm)
Hydrated palm glycerides
Sodium isostearoyl lactylaye (derived from vegetable stearic acid)
Cetyl palmitate and octyl palmitate (and anything with palmitate at the end)

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