Is the Food Industry Concealing Its Destruction of the Tropics From the Public?
From The Observatory
Palm oil is a popular vegetable oil found in many products, such as shampoos, cookies, and pizza. However, its production often leads to severe environmental damage and human rights abuses, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia, which produce most of the world’s palm oil. A 2024 report found that palm oil significantly contributes to deforestation, affecting an area the size of Los Angeles.
Conflict Palm Oil refers to palm oil linked to rainforest and peatland destruction or human rights abuses. Despite its hidden presence in many products, including animal feed, companies are pressured to adopt “No Deforestation, No Peatland, No Exploitation” (NDPE) policies. These policies aim to prevent further deforestation and protect Indigenous communities.
Palm oil is increasingly used in animal feed for dairy cows, indirectly entering the food supply through products like milk and chocolate. This “embedded palm oil” often isn’t covered by companies’ deforestation-free pledges, making their claims misleading. Research shows that many companies importing palm oil-based animal feed into the U.S. lack NDPE policies, raising the risk of deforestation and human rights issues.
Major companies like Nestlé and Ferrero claim to reduce deforestation impacts but often ignore the palm oil in their supply chains. Only a few, like Unilever, provide transparency about their palm oil use. European regulations now require products containing palm oil to be deforestation-free by 2025, pushing companies to improve their policies.
Overall, the lack of proper regulation and transparency in the palm oil supply chain means many companies' deforestation-free claims are questionable. To genuinely protect forests and communities, companies must include embedded palm oil in their NDPE policies and ensure transparent reporting.
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🔭 This summary was human-edited with AI-assist.
