Palm oil

**Mr Bones** · 08-09-2019, 05:50 AM

We're conscious about using palm oil too. Thanks for posting Nicos, it's an interesting link, the article makes making choices easier.

**muckdiva** · 08-09-2019, 06:59 AM

Thanks, it seems to be in just about everything these days. I try and avoid processed foods as they are packed with it ☹️

**Nicos** · 08-09-2019, 08:27 AM

What brought it to the fore for me a few weeks back was that I decided to buy a ready rolled pastry as I was too busy to mix one myself. As I checked out the ingredients I noticed it contained palm oil so I checked out a few other makes and all but one had palm oil in it

Pastry....flour, fat, water. Simples. Why on Earth add palm oil?
By the time I'd thrown the plastic wrapper into the recycling bin I felt rediculously guilty.
Maybe a good slap in the face is good from time to time to question/reaffirm my lifestyle choices.

If anyone else finds other links I'd be most interested!

**mothhawk** · 08-09-2019, 11:13 AM

Originally posted by Nicos View Post

What brought it to the fore for me a few weeks back was that I decided to buy a ready rolled pastry as I was too busy to mix one myself. As I checked out the ingredients I noticed it contained palm oil so I checked out a few other makes and all but one had palm oil in it

Pastry....flour, fat, water. Simples. Why on Earth add palm oil?

Palm oil is used, as it is solid at room temperature, to reduce the percentage of saturated fats in pastry. It all kicked off in a big way when governments decided saturated fats (and trans fats) in foods were unhealthy and started to talk about penalties for products that used them too much.

I used to work in a pork pie bakery, where hot water crust pastry is used. It was made with half and half lard and margarine. Then legislation was brought in to force manufacturers to reduce saturated fats and trans fats (margarines) in products and an alternative was sought. Palm and coconut are the main two plant based unsaturated fats and palm is the cheaper option. So the margarine and most of the lard was replaced with palm oil. I was not happy about it.

edit: I've always made all my pastry with butter and never worried about the fat. Moderation is the key

**Jungle Jane** · 08-09-2019, 03:10 PM

I didn�t know there was other names for palm oil,that�s a bit misleading,here�s a photo of the names & a link underneath to the website it came from. In chocolate they hide it as vegetable oil/fat,it seems palm oil is in a lot of products in a hidden way,I can�t stand that,I want an honest label with the proper ingredients listed otherwise what�s the point -

https://orangutanfoundation.org.au/palm-oil/

**Snoop Puss** · 08-09-2019, 04:08 PM

There are sustainable sources of palm oil. What's required is something like the dolphin-safe symbol you often find on tinned tuna. If such a thing exists for palm oil, I've never seen it. If I see palm oil in a list of ingredients, I just put the item back on the shelf.

Nutella comes in for a lot of stick over palm oil and there are palm-oil-free alternatives.

**Kirk** · 08-09-2019, 06:10 PM

Something about 8-12 weeks back pointed out that Palm Oil can fill 4 consistancies for fats/oils so gets into just about everything.

Also for pastry it is used as a butter/margarine replacement but also as a vegan option. It is plant based so satisifes that requirement. Read the description and it is likely to say Vegan, that generally means Palm Oil in one of the forms.

As a plant based material it can use the plant based oil or vegetable oil description. Unfortunately you are likely to find it in just about everything.

One place (Iceland ?) tried to remove it from their products and at the end found they couldn't. They did reduce the number of items with it in but unable to remove it completely.

Anyone like Ginger Nuts? They are a Vegan biscuit, guess where the fat/oil comes from. Have a vegan friend and so reading ingredients becomes necessary when they visit.

**Jungle Jane** · 08-09-2019, 06:42 PM

Marks & Spencers are impressive,100% of their palm oil is responsibly sourced-
�Switching to other vegetable oils � like sunflower, soy or coconut � isn�t an effective solution either. To get the same amount of oil from these crops up to 10 times more land would be needed � creating new problems for wildlife and climate change.�
�We only buy palm oil that is certified responsibly sourced by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil � a global non-profit organisation. The RSPO is working to improve palm oil production to protect biodiversity and forests and safeguard human rights.
We set our own additional standards for suppliers too. We require them to report progress to us and to be transparent about where they source their palm oil. We monitor their progress and we�ll stop working with companies who don�t meet our requirements.�
https://corporate.marksandspencer.co...ce-on-palm-oil

**Mark_Riga** · 08-09-2019, 09:44 PM

But M&S are unethical in other ways. It is difficult for any big business to be completely ethical in a capitalist society.
Morrisons sell some own brand chocolates that are palm oil free.

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