What is palm oil?
Palm oil is an edible plant oil, high in saturated fats, that is derived from the fruit of the oil palm tree which is used in agricultural production of palm oil. There are two main species of oil palm tree, Elaeis guineensis, native to West Africa and Elaeis oleifera native to Central and South America. A mature oil palm tree will produce palm fruit which are reddish in colour with a single seed or kernel, they grow in large bunches weighing up to 40-50 kilograms.
The palm fruit yields two distinct oils; palm oil and palm kernel oil. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit and is an edible oil used in food. Palm kernel oil is extracted from the seed of the fruit and is used in the manufacture of cosmetics.
Where is Palm Oil produced?
Both species of oil palm trees grow in countries in tropical regions such Ghana in Africa, Colombia in South America, New Guinea in the Pacific and Malaysia and Indonesia in Southeast Asia. Oil palm trees have thrived following their introduction to Southeast Asia, in particular Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Indonesia and Malaysia account for 85% of global production of palm oil. In Southeast Asia, palm oil plantation establishment is a major driver of deforestation.
What kind of grocery products will I find palm oil in?
If your shopping list includes packaged products like: bread, biscuits, chocolate, chips, sandwich spreads, ice cream, shower cream and shampoo, then its likely you are buying palm oil.
Palm oil and its derivatives are present in 50% of all packaged foods on our shelves. It is stable at room temperature and has a longer shelf life than other vegetable oils.
Palm oil is used as a shortening in bakery to make biscuits and breads etc. It is also used for deep fat frying. Palm oil derivatives can be used in cosmetics as it makes things like shampoo creamier.
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What is the problem with Palm Oil?
Palm oil only grows in the tropics, where, if cultivated in an unsustainable way can have negative impacts on people and the environment. These include indiscriminate forest clearing, habitat loss of threatened and endangered species, poor air quality from burning forests and peatlands, and disregard for the rights and interests of local communities. A report published in 2007 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) acknowledges that palm oil plantations are now the leading cause of rainforest destruction in Malaysia and Indonesia. Of even more concern is the fact that demand for palm oil is predicted to increase, and most of the remaining suitable areas for plantations are forests
Deforestation, Land Clearing & Orangutans Habitat
In Southeast Asia alone the equivalent of 300 football fields are deforested every hour. During 1998 and 1999, loss of orangutans reached a rate of about 1,000 per year. 80% of orangutan habitat has been altered or lost already and it's forecast that at the current rate of deforestation, orangutans could be extinct in the wild in as little as 20 years. |
Deforestation can release large volumes of greenhouse gases. This is particularly severe in tropical forests growing on peat soils. In just one province of Indonesia (Riau Province, Sumatra), the average annual greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2007 was an estimated 0.21 gigatons of CO2, arising from deforestation, forest degradation and resultant peat fires.
Forests do not need to be cleared to be replaced by palm oil plantations. There is approximately 300-700 million hectares of abandoned land globally that can potentially be used for oil palm plantations, 20 million hectares in Indonesia alone.
Adopt an Orangutan today »Are there substitutes to palm oil?
There are a number of reasons why we continue to use palm oil in our products;
- As a crop, oil palm is ten times more productive per hectare than other oil crops such as soybean, sunflower or rapeseed. Whilst it is high in saturated fat, it does not contain bad trans-fats
- The palm oil industry is a large industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. A report by the World Bank and Asia Development Bank stated that the Malaysian palm oil industry currently employs 570,000 people with export earnings of more than RM68billion per year approximately $22billion Australian Dollars
- Whilst it is true that in some instances palm oil can be substituted for an alternate vegetable oil, palm oil is an extremely versatile and abundant ingredient. Palm oil can, if produced sustainably, still be used to make the products we use every day without the expense to the environment.
So can palm oil be produced sustainably?...
What is Certified Sustainable Palm Oil?
Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) is palm oil that has been produced by a plantation that has been managed and certified in accordance to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s Principles and Criteria (RSPO P&Cs). In other words, the plantation was established on land that was not deforested and converted to plantation after 2005 and has been well managed with good environment, social and economic standards.
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How do I know if my grocery products contain certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO)?
At the moment it's almost impossible for Australians to know whether their product contains palm oil, let alone sustainable palm oil unless you contact the company who made the product directly and ask them.
There is currently no law in Australia that mandates that palm oil be labelled on the ingredients. Currently the ingredient list may be labelled as 'vegetable oil' but this does not tell you whether that 'vegetable oil' is palm oil or not.
In 2009, Senator Nick Xenophon proposed a bill that would change this. The bill will mandate manufacturers and retailers label their product as containing CS Palm Oil (Certified Sustainable Palm Oil), only if they are using sustainable palm oil that has been certified in accordance with the RSPO’s Principles and Criteria.
If you would like to read the proposed bill, called 'Food Standards Amendment' Truth in Labelling Bill 2009.
If you support the bill write to your local member and tell them that you would like them to support the bill on your behalf because you want to know that CS Palm Oil is being used in your products.
Quick Facts about Palm Oil:
Australia
- Palm oil is in approximately 50% of packaged products on our shelves
- Australia imports approximately 130,000 tonnes of palm oil annually
- An area of plantation 5½ times the size of Manhattan is needed to produce that much palm oil for Australians each year
Global
- The RSPO is an industry lead, not-for-profit association of the palm oil industry, with stakeholders from all sectors of the industry involved
- RSPO members account for 40% of the global palm oil industry
- There is 300-700 million hectares of abandoned land that can potentially be used for oil palm plantations
- The premium for CSPO is between 1-40% a ton. With the Book and Claim system 'Greenpalm' endorsed by RSPO being the cheapest.
- RSPO certified sustainable palm oil accounts for approximately 4% of the global palm oil, approximately 2 million tones.
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