It’s the time of the year when supermarkets have started stocking their shelves with Christmas foods, festive treats and gift sets. I walked past the aisles and couldn’t help feeling depressed because I knew palm oil was certainly used in most of them.
You might wonder what’s wrong with using palm oil in commercial goods. I am not sure if you have watched the Iceland palm oil advert. I learned that palm oil plantations could cause deforestation and biodiversity loss through that advert. But the damage doesn’t just stop there! Palm oil workers often receive low wages, sometimes even below their local minimum wage. In addition, some children are forced to work in the palm fields for long hours. In short, the palm oil industry doesn’t only destroy the environment but also abuses workers’ rights.
So, as conscious consumers, what choices do we have regarding palm oil? Should we have it as business as usual? Or boycott and get rid of it entirely from our life? The conclusion I’ve reached might surprise you. So keep reading!
What is palm oil?
Crop
The oil palm tree originates from West Africa. In the late 19th century, it was introduced to Southeast Asia and took root in Malaysia and Indonesia in the early 20th century. Today, both countries account for a whopping 84% of global palm oil production.
The crop can only be grown in the tropics and takes around 3 to 4 years to produce fruits suitable for harvest. However, it’s a very productive plant, and some oil palm trees are even harvested twice a month once it starts to fruit.
Processing
Several steps are involved in extracting palm oil.
1. Fresh fruit bunches (FFB) are harvested from the tree. For short oil palm trees, workers use spades to get FFB. And for the tall ones, skilled workers use long poles with sharp knives at the end to get the bunches down to the ground.
2. FFBs from the palm field are delivered to the palm oil mill plant, where FFBs are sterilised by direct steaming and threshed. Then, they’re transferred to the extraction plant, where the oil is squeezed out from their skin and pulp. Lastly, the oil is diluted with water and debris and impurities are filtered out.
3. Now, palm oil can be sold as low-quality palm oil, but it is often sent to a refinery plant for further processing. The process refines palm oil and classifies it into various grades to meet different usage and requirements of finished products.
Other names for palm oil
They are over 200 different names for palm oil and its derivatives. That’s why it’s nearly impossible for consumers to tell if it is used in the product. Some common names for palm oil in different types of products are:
- Foods: any ingredients starting with palm-, such as palm oil, palm stearin, sustainable palm oil, vegetable oil, vegetable fat etc.
- Personal care: sodium lauryl, SLS, propylene glycol, steareth-30, steareth-20.
- Comestics: glycerine, hydrogenated palm glycerides stearic acid, ethylhexyl palmit (or octyl palmitate), PKO.
- Other products: palm oil, palm stearin, palmitate in candles, palm oil in biofuels/biodiesel
What products use palm oil?
Palm oil in West Africa and some southwest countries, such as India, and Malaysia, is sold as cooking oil. However, in the west, it’s mainly used as one of the ingredients in commercial goods. This type of palm oil is usually referred to as refined palm oil.
More than 50% of the products sold in the supermarket contain refined palm oil, from processed foods, bakery products, confectionery, peanut butter, and spreads, to cosmetics and hygiene products.
Not-so-obvious products
Here are a few food products that you might not associate with palm oil, but they often use palm oil in their ingredients unless they specifically mention ‘palm oil free’ on the labels.
- cheesecake
- mayonnaise
- vegan cheese
- ice cream
- cloudy lemonade
- pet foods
So, as you can see, avoiding palm oil is hard if you buy any packaged foods. Food manufacturers like to use palm oil because it can give products a more smooth texture and provide a longer shelf life.
Non-food items
It’s also hard to give up palm oil when buying non-food items. The refined palm oil can be found in toothpaste, shampoos, soaps, body lotions, laundry detergents and even baby wipes! Palm oil helps those products to form bubbles easier or acts as a gentle emulsifying agent.
Which countries use the most palm oil?
With developing countries adapting their eating habits and lifestyle towards the west, they’re also consuming more refined palm oil in their diet and buying more commercial goods with palm oil in them. As a result, Asia, the emerging world region, has shown the most substantial demand for palm oil consumption in recent years.
According to the statistics, Indonesia, India and China are the top three largest consuming nations of palm oil, which is primarily destined for their food industry. However, Indonesia is also the biggest producer – the country exports and fulfils nearly two-thirds of the worldwide palm oil demand.
Why is palm oil so popular?
Palm oil is a very productive crop. This is because it’s much higher-yielding than other vegetable oils. As a result, it leads to a lower production cost for the suppliers.
| Type of oil | Tonnes per hectare of farmed land |
|---|---|
| palm oil | 3.3 tonnes/per hectare |
| rapeseed oil | 0.7 tonnes/per hectare |
| sunflower oil | 0.7 tonnes/per hectare |
| coconut oil | 0.7 tonnes/per hectare |
| soybean oil | 0.4 tonnes/per hectare |
Besides its low cost, the foods/goods manufacturers embrace refined palm oil so much also because it’s odourless and colourless. It’s such a versatile key ingredient used in many various products. Last but not least, it facilitates the finished products to reach a smooth texture that customers like, extends the shelf life, and reduces food waste.
So, if we place the three main roles in a product life cycle, namely suppliers, manufacturers and customers, then it’s clear why palm oil is so popular. Here’s a summary.
- To suppliers: palm oil means a low-production cost.
- To manufacturers: palm oil also brings down the overall cost and is a very versatile ingredient.
- To customers: they like the neutral taste of palm oil and the creamy, smooth texture that palm oil provides. The low cost of palm oil also makes the finished products more affordable.
Why does palm oil have such a bad reputation?
Undoubtedly, palm oil is the most used vegetable fat, but it’s also become the most hated ingredient among environmental groups, human rights organisations and conscious consumers.
Environmental issues
To fulfil the strong demand for palm oil from manufacturers, consumers and other growing markets, rainforests are burnt down, and the land is cleared to just grow oil palm trees on an industrial scale.
According to World Data, oil palm plantation was the main driver of deforestation between 2001 to 2016 in Indonesia, accounting for nearly one-fourth of forest loss in the country during the period of those years. As for another major exporter Malaysia, oil palm trees were responsible for 42% of rainforest loss between 1973 and 2015.
Although deforestation caused by palm oil plantations in the past decade is slowing, those tremendous damages, such as the loss of animal natural reservoirs and biodiversity, species extinction, and habitat destruction (for both animals and humans), can’t be recovered. Moreover, deforestation not only adds carbon dioxide to the air but also contributes directly to global warming and climate change.
Human and Workers’ rights
Although the oil palm tree is a high-yield crop, it’s naturally labour-intensive. The process requires a large workforce, from cultivating, growing the trees, and spraying pesticides to harvesting, collecting loose palm fruits, and transporting FFBs to palm oil plants.
Over the past several decades, innovation and automation have speeded up the process in palm oil factories and refinery plants, the later stage of oil palm production, but not so much happens in the palm field where little mechanisation has been done.
Working on the palm field isn’t pleasant either. Palm plantation jobs are known as ‘3D’ work – dirty, difficult and dangerous. So, it’s hard to hire locals or skilled people working in the field. Therefore, the labour shortage is always an issue for the industry, leading them to turn to migrants. For example, 84% of the palm oil workforce in Malaysia is made up of migrants, but the palm oil company was accused of treating their migrant workers unfairly.
It is reported that some migrants got into the country through human trafficking, and the exploitation of workers, whether they’re local or from less developed countries, is commonplace. For example, they’re paid much less, usually assigned to dangerous tasks, endure long work hours and have no written contracts and rights to organise a trade union. What’s more? It’s estimated by Unicef in Indonesia the palm oil industry has made negative impacts on as many as 5 million children as dependents of workers.
Lastly, let’s not forget palm oil plantations took forests away from indigenous people who lost their ancestral land because of deforestation. The lush jungle was home to those people for generations, and when the jungle was burnt down, they lost everything – their village, their natural resources and the hope they have for their future generations.
Ethical consumerism
Shopping ethically means consumers know that what they buy, either a product or service, isn’t built at the expense of others’ suffering and social and environmental damage. It’s evident that palm oil isn’t meeting ethical consumers’ criteria.
What’s the alternative?
Sustainable palm oil
Just like the Fairtrade badge for coffee and tea products, the RSPO logo on the product’s packaging tells consumers that the product uses certified sustainable palm oil. So, we should buy products that come with the RSPO logo or are labelled ‘sustainable palm oil’.
RSPO stands for Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and consists of representatives from all areas of the palm oil industry. It was established in 2004 to promote the sustainable production of palm oil worldwide. For oil palm growers to be certified by RSPO, they need to meet the eight principles, aka the stringent standards for sustainable palm oil production. For example:
- commitment to transparency
- the use of appropriate best practices by growers and millers
- responsible development of new plantations
Unfortunately, RSPO isn’t the ultimate solution when it comes to consuming palm oil ethically because it has received numerous criticisms in recent years, including:
- It’s hard for smallholders to get certified because of the skills and cost required to meet RSPO’s criteria.
- RSPO’s auditing process isn’t as transparent as it claims.
- Palm oil workers feel let down by RSPO as their working conditions aren’t improved even though their company is certified.
- A certified RSPO product is usually more expensive than an uncertified one.
So, based on all the related news articles I’ve read and podcasts I listened to about RSPO, at the moment, I don’t think I would trust RSPO as much as I have been trusting Fairtrade from a consumer’s point of view. I reckon a not-for-profit organisation like RSPO is good practice for the industry and consumers, but I think there is a LONG way to go for such an organisation to truly live up to what they claim and fulfil their vision and mission.
Palm oil free
After learning about the environmental damage and suffering workers’ rights caused by the palm oil industry, I feel quite guilty about buying products containing palm oil. So, I started paying attention to ‘palm oil free’ products and buying them more, even though sometimes they could be more expensive than their counterparts.
I’m not trying to boycott those products with palm oil as I still buy them, and I buy sustainable ones whenever possible. But I think if we could consume more palm-oil-free products, this might encourage the products’ manufacturers to come up with more products like that. I would have 100% supported RSPO if there weren’t so much criticism about them. But before they improve their practices, I would also try to support products free from palm oil.
Final thoughts
Buying foods/goods with palm oil isn’t the end of the world as long as we purchase them in moderation. As mentioned, palm oil is mainly used in packaged products. So from an environmental point of view, buying less of them means we have produced fewer single-use plastics or plastics to recycle. If we can’t avoid palm oil, at least go for the products bearing with the RSPO logo or stating ‘sustainable palm oil’ in their labelling.
As consumers, we have so much power to change the world just by being careful in what we buy.
Emma Watson, English actress and activist
Health-wise, palm oil isn’t as healthy as you’d like to think, even though it is vegetable oil. A recent study shows that compared to other types of vegetable oils, such as olive oil, palm oil is more prone to increase cholesterol levels and risks of heart disease if people have too much of it in their diet.