Welcome to Ethical Consumer's palm oil free list.
Palm oil is a plant oil derived from the fruit of palm trees that grow in the tropics. It is used in a wide range of products from food to cosmetics. In recent years its increased production has lead to the destruction of virgin forest in South East Asia which is cleared to make way for plantations. This is destroying bio-diversity and the habitats of many animals including the endangered orang-utan (pictured above).
Consumers are increasingly aware of the devastating environmental and social impacts of palm oil production, and want to avoid the ingredient where possible. This is a tricky task as it is in so many products.
At Ethical Consumer we'd like to make it easier for you and have begun compiling this palm oil free list. We hope to add to it over the coming weeks and months.
Thanks to all those who have emailed us or posted their contributions on the forum. If you know of any products that are palm oil free please let us know and we'll add them to the list. To find out more about the impacts of palm oil production take a look at our palm oil reading list.
All the products below receive Ethical Consumer's best rating for their palm oil sourcing policy. Not all are palm oil free, those that are not have reference to their policy in brackets.
Baby Food
So Baby
Plum Baby (uses organically certified palm oil)
Peter Rabbit (PR Organics Ltd) (uses organically certified palm oil)
Truuuly Scrumptious (Kealth Foods Ltd)
Ella's Kitchen
View Ethical Consumer's free buyers guide to baby food
Pet food
OrganiPets
View Ethical Consumer's free buyers guide to pet food
Shampoo
Caurnie Soap company (Aim to be palm oil free by end 2010)
Faith in Nature (Some commitments, small ethical company)
Green people (Some commitments, small ethical company)
Healthquest international (Some commitments, small ethical company)
Lavera (Certified sustainable)
Lush
Marks & Spencer (purchases GreenPalm Certificates to cover all of the palm oil used in M&S products)
Natural Spa Supplies
Neal's Yard (Certified sustainable)
Pure Nuff Stuff
Triangle wholefoods
Weleda (Certified sustainable from Ecocert)
Go to Ethical Consumer's buyers guide to shampoo
Cereal bars
GranoVita (“If palm oil is used in our products we ensure that it’s from a sustainable source.”)
Traidcraft (“Sustainable palm oil used in cereal bars using Green Palm scheme.”)
Dove's Farm ("Our palm oil comes from sustainable, non GM, organic suppliers)
Burton's Foods (100% Green palm certificates from Jan 2010)
Ma Baker
Paterson's Oatcakes
Go to Ethical Consumer's buyers guide to cereal bars
Chocolate
Traidcraft chocolate
Divine and Dubble
Lindt & Sprüngli solid bars
Windmill ("Our Organic Palm oil is sourced from a sustainable project in Columbia certified by Pro Forest")
RSPB Fairtrade & Organic
View Ethical Consumer's free buyers guide to chocolate bars
Biscuits
Artisan (Palm oil from sustainable sources)
Biona (Windmill) (its organic palm oil was sourced from a sustainable project certified by Pro Forest)
View Ethical Consumer's free buyers guide to buscuits
Cereals
Dorset cereals
View Ethical Consumer's free buyers guide to cereals
Soap
Body shop soap (Sustainably sourced)
Handmade Norfolk Soap
Earth Warrior soap
Handmade Norfolk Soap (“from sustainable sources”)
Beyond organic skin care
View Ethical Consumer's free buyers guide to soap
Reading list
“Don't buy palm oil”, Ethical Consumer, May/June 2010, Issue 112.
“Sustainable Palm Oil”, Ethical Consumer, May/June 2008, Issue 124.
“How the palm oil industry is Cooking the Climate”, Greenpeace, November 2007.
“A fresh approach to delivering sustainability”, GreenPalm, 2009.
“Losing Ground: The human rights impacts of oil palm plantation expansion in Indonesia”, Friends of the Earth, LifeMosaic and Sawit Watch, February 2008.
“The flow of palm oil Colombia- Belgium/Europe: A study from a human rights perspective”, Human Rights Everywhere, November 2006.
“Regional perspectives on plantations: An overview on Western and Central Africa”, World Rainforest Movement briefing, December 2008.
“Illegal forest clearance and RSPO greenwash: Case studies of Sinar Mas”, Greenpeace, February 2009.
Links
www.palmoilaction.org.au/
www.ran.org/content/problem-palm-oil
www.greenpeace.org.uk/tags/rspo
Ethical Consumer Palm Oil Scoring Policy (as of August 2010)
If a company uses palm oil in its products and none of the conditions listed below are met, it will lose half marks in Ethical Consumer's rating system in the categories of climate change, habitats & resources and human rights. If a company is a producer or major trader of palm oil, it will lose full marks in these categories. This is due to the massive environmental and social impacts of palm oil production. For further information on these impacts, see reading list below.
Ethical Consumer does not take into account future commitments to source sustainable palm oil as a result of the fact that the negative effects of palm oil production have been apparent for at least five years: The RSPO published its Principles & Criteria for sustainable palm oil production in 2005.
A company will not lose marks in the above categories if one of the following applies:
1)It does not use palm oil
2)It only uses certified organic palm oil
3)It only uses Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO)
4)It purchases GreenPalm certificates for 100% of its palm oil
5)It is a small company (turnover below £5 million) providing ethical alternatives that has made some commitment to sustainable palm oil use
6)It is a company providing ethical alternatives that avoids palm oil where possible, whose palm oil suppliers are members of the RSPO, and who provides the name of its suppliers to Ethical Consumer.