Palm oil

In short: Palm oil is a vegetable fat from the oil palm and is in about half of all packaged foods and many cosmetics.

In more detail: It is high-yielding and cheap, but cultivation is linked to rainforest clearing, loss of habitat and climate damage. It is rich in saturated fat and makes products spreadable and long-lasting.

Our context: The product scanner deducts a few points for palm oil and palm fat and shows the reason.

In Depth

• Names in the ingredient list: palm oil, palm fat, palm kernel oil, palm olein, palm stearin. In cosmetics: palmitates, glyceryl stearate, sodium palmate and many derivatives.
• RSPO: The “Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil” seal is meant to prove sustainable cultivation but is criticised because it has different levels.
• Substitutes: Other oils often need more land per tonne. The problem is the way of cultivation, not the plant alone.
• In practice: Choose organic products and manufacturers with certified palm oil.

See also: Hidden sugar in food, NOVA classification