Palm Oil

What’s Palm Oil used in?

Palm Oil is found in many food products including ice cream, pizza dough, chocolate, biscuits, packaged bread & margarine, as well as in soaps, detergents & shampoos. Palm Fat is a solid form of the vegetable oil.

Labelling of Palm Oil

Vegetable oils and fats can be grouped together in the ingredients list under the term "vegetable oils" or "vegetable fats" but this must be followed by the type of vegetable origin (e.g., palm, sunflower, or rapeseed).

Retailer own-brand products are moving towards all Palm Oil being sourced from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil  or RSPO so it can be labelled in the ingredients listing as ‘Certified Sustainable’. Some retailers like Iceland have also made the decision to make all of their own-brand products free from Palm Oil.

What is Palm Oil?

Palm Oil is a vegetable oil sourced from the fruit of Oil Palm trees. Oil Palm trees are trees in the palm family in West & Central African which are also found in Malaysia and Indonesia. Rainforests have been destroyed to make way for more Palm Oil plantations so Palm Oil is a major cause of deforestation & wildlife loss.

What does the RSPO do?

The RSPO was formed in 2004 to set best practices for producing and sourcing Palm Oil. Audits are carried out looking at if best agricultural practices are being followed such as if boundaries are clearly marked & there is no planting beyond these, if pollution prevention and reduction plans are available, if there are land title documents & if there is a replanting programme in place for the next 5 years. The audit also looks at if there are action plans in place to reduce pesticide usage, environmental impacts, waste reduction, greenhouse gas emissions and many more.