This is a little guide that the Vegan Era CREW have put together in finding your way around Palm oil. There has been much debate and speculation over the use of palm oil. The reality is that as responsible human's our role is to protect our beautiful animal friends. That is a reason why so many of us have adopted the compassionate Vegan lifestyle. Simply put, we Love our animal friends and will do all that we can to be a voice for them.
For those of you who do not know about Palm oil, here is a little tale for you. Free e-book.
Palm oil is a type of vegetable oil, it is derived from the palm fruit grown on the African oil palm tree. Originally founded in West Africa, these fruiting trees can be found anywhere in the world where there is heat and rainfall.
Today, almost all palm oil is produced in, and exported from Indonesia and Malaysia. The reality is, that thousand upon thousand kilometres of pristine rainforest is slashed and burned in order to make way for the production of palm oil. Another horrify reality, is that our beautiful orangutans and other beautiful animals are killed in the process.
This large scale deforestation is pushing orangutans to extinction along with many other species.
Palm oil is a very popular vegetable oil whereby over 50% of products use it. It can be found in baked goods, confectionary, cosmetics, body products and cleaning agents. But it most countries there are no mandatory law in labelling it.
And the most horrify reality is….companies can very easily hide palm oil under the name of vegetable oi or over 170 names.
Due to this fact consumers are blinded by the fact that many of the products they are buying contribute to this unprecedented genocide. Organgutan numbers are diminishing. The world is not giving them a choice, but we can all start now by refusing to allow this to happen to our gorgeous friends.
As a rule of thumb, if the saturated fat content is about 50%, there is a good chance that the vegetable oil will in fact be palm oil.
Additives and agents such as emulsifiers (E471 is a common one), while a small component of the overall product, can also be derived from palm oil.
Other names to keep an eye out for that could be or be derived from palm oil are cocoa butter equivalent (CBE), cocoa butter substitute (CBS), palm olein and palm stearine. In non-food products like soaps and detergents, the list includes elaeis guineensis, sodium lauryl sulphate, cetyl alcohol, stearic acid, isopropyl and other palmitates, steareth-2, steareth-20 and fatty alcohol sulphates – all of which may be derived from palm oil.
Here is a simple 5 ways to detect and avoid.
1. The most common name palm oil is hidden under is 'vegetable oil'. Almost all Asian products or products made in Asia that have 'vegetable oil' written on the label means that it is palm oil.
2. Most pre-packaged snack foods made by well known, large corporate-giants (Nestle, Unilever etc) contain palm oil.
3. Nearly all home-brand/no-name pasties and confectionery will contain palm oil (Coles/Safeway donuts, muffins, cakes, chocolate, confectionery etc).
4. If you are not sure whether a product contains palm oil, either type the product name into google along with 'palm oil' and see the search results, or call the company and ask if they use palm oil.
5. To avoid palm oil, look out for products that contain alternative vegetable oils, such as 100% sunflower oil, corn oil or canola oil. (However, please note that Soybean oil is often associated with the destruction of rainforest in Brazil).
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