How can we avoid buying products with palm oil ingredients?

 

Palm Oil Free face cream (Photo Julie May)

The repeated removal of tropical jungle to plant oil palms (Elaeis guineensis) for palm oil has reduced the habitat of many threatened species, in particular the Orangutan in South East Asia. Unfortunately (or fortunately for some) the large palm fruit is rich in oil which makes it a cheap oil to harvest.

Over the last few years I have been trying to buy products that do not contain palm oil but it is very hard to know which ingredients come from palm oil. I look for products that say they are 'palm oil free' but there are not many of those and it is often said that palm oil is in almost everything! See WWF webpage below for a general list of products containing palm oil.

Well thanks to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there is a list of ingredients that come from palm oil. Some are common ingredients that can come from other plants such as vegetable oil, vegetable fat, sodium lauryl sulphate and others, so further research is needed or the producing company contacted. Other ingredients are obviously from palm oil. The WWF also suggests looking for the sustainably produced palm oil symbol on products (see webpage).

Here is the WWF's list of ingredients coming from palm oil:

INGREDIENTS: Vegetable Oil, Vegetable Fat, Palm Kernel, Palm Kernel Oil, Palm Fruit Oil, Palmate, Palmitate, Palmolein, Glyceryl, Stearate, Stearic Acid, Elaeis Guineensis, Palmitic Acid, Palm Stearine, Palmitoyl Oxostearamide, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Kernelate, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate, Hyrated Palm Glycerides, Etyl Palmitate, Octyl Palmitate, Palmityl Alcohol. CONTAINS: Palm oil (World Wildlife Fund).

For years I have been unknowingly using face creams that contain one or two palm oil ingredients, so I decided to try to find one without. From Coles in Australia, I found the Australian made Sukin pictured above. It has a long list of ingredients but does not contain any of the above. There are other plant oils included such as from: sesame, cacao, rosehip, macadamia, jojoba, argan, candelilla, baobab, acai, hibiscus, goji, tangerine, mandarin, lavender and carrot oils. Vegetable protein is listed but possibly not from palm oil as oils/fats do not contain protein.

For more information see the WWF webpage at: https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/which-everyday-products-contain-palm-oil