Palm Oil Consumer Guide

By Manon Godot, 20th of August 2010

Palm oil is found in one of every ten supermarket products. In the EU, there is however no obligation for the manufacturers to label palm oil as such on the food products. The purpose of this guide is to help consumers recognize the products containing palm oil in order to enable them to make a choice.

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Companies involved

The main companies responsible for the plantation of oil palm are:

1. Sinar Mas Group (branch of Golden Agri Resources, Indonesia/singapore)

Sinar Mas Group sells palm oil to the following companies:

1.1  Cargill (USA)
1.2  Gardner Smith (Australia)
1.3  Kuok (Singapore)
1.4  Mitsubishi Corporation (Japan)
1.5  Kumpulan Guthrie (Malaysia)
1.6  Uniliver (Netherlands, UK)
1.7  Wilmar (singapore)

These companies sell palm oil to the following marks:

Nutrena, Loyall, Riverland, Mitsubishi corporation, Knorr, Flora, Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s, Amora, Pepsico Foodservice, Best foods, Miko and Peperami, and more.

2. SALIM Group (Indonesia)

SALIM Group sells palm oil to the following companies:

2.1 Cargill (USA)
2.2  Gardner Smith (Australia
2.3  Lotte trading (Singapore)
2.4  Nabisco (USA)
2.5  Procter & Gamble (USA)
2.6  Uniliver (Netherlands, UK)
2.7  Safil Aclan (France)

These companies sell palm oil to the following marks:

Pringles, Crisco professional, Spout, Goodnature, Purina, Oreo, Chips Ahoy!, Crest, Pampers, Triscuit, Lenor, Ritz, Ariel, Head & Shoulders, and more.

3. WILMAR International Limited (USA/China)

WILMAR group sells palm oil to the following companies:

3.1 Savola (Saudi Arabia)
3.2 Nestlé (Switzerland)
3.3 VVF (India)
3.4 Procter & Gamble (USA)
3.5 Uniliver (Netherlands/UK)

These companies sell palm oil to the following marks:

Nestlé Kit Kat, Cheerios, Häagen-Dazs, Herfy Foods, Nestlé Chocapic, Maggi, Nestlé La Laitière, Nestlé Nesquik, Panda,
Nestlé Cerelac, Friskies, and more.

4. NAPAN & RISJADSON PT PP London Sumatra Indonesia Tbk. (LonSum)

NAPAN & RISJADSON group sells palm oil to the following companies:

4.1 Cadbury Shweppes
4.2 Wilmar (Singapore)
4.3 Cargill (USA)
4.4 Ito Shoji Co. (Japan)
4.5 Gardner Smith (Australia)

These companies sell palm oil to the following marks:

Dr Pepper, Cadbury, Canada Dry, Schweppes, and more.

 

Banks involved in palm oil plantations

The banks involved in the financing of the palm oil plantations:

OCBC Bank, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, UBS, Rabobank, CALyon/Crédit Agricole CIB, ING, BCA, Standard Chartered,
CIMB, ABN.AMRO, FORTIS, and more.

 

How to know is there is palm oil in food products?

In the food products, the following labellings indicate the use of palm oil as an ingredients:

– Sodium Laureth Sulphate (Can also be from coconut)
– Sodium Lauryl Sulphates (can also be from ricinus oil)
– Sodium dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS)
– Palmate
– Palm Oil Kernal
– Palmitate

Palm oil can also be labelled as “vegetable oil”. In that case, check the amount of satured fat. If the label indicates satured fats in the product, that means that it contains palm kernel oil, palm oil or coconut oil (most probably palm), all the other vegetable oils being not satured fats.

Some marks & products containing palm oil or palm kernel oil:

Haribo Liquorice Allsorts
Haribo Liquorice Favourites
Haribo Liquorice Cream Rock
Haribo Micro Mix
Haribo Dolly Mixtures
Haribo Rhubarb & Custard and Strawberries & Cream
Haribo, Haribo
Warburtons, Warburtons
Cadbury Roses, Cadbury
Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury
Hovis, Premier Foods
Kingsmill, ABF
Persil, Unilever
Flora Spreads, Unilever
Surf, Unilever
Pot Noodles, Unilever
Magnum, Unilever
Young’s Chilled Fish, Young’s
Youngs Frozen Fish, Young’s
Kit Kat, Nestle
Quality Street, Nestle
Aero, Nestle
Mr Kipling Cakes, Premier Foods
Wrigley’s Extra, Wrigley
Pringles, Procter & Gamble (suspected)
Bold, Procter & Gamble (suspected)
Birds Eye Poultry, Birds Eye
Mars, Mars
Galaxy, Mars
Maltesers, Mars
CrunchyNut Cornflakes, Kellogg’s
Kellogg’s Special K, Kellogg’s
Ginsters, Ginsters
McVitie’s Digestives, United Biscuits
Goodfella’s Pizza, Northern Foods
McCoys, United Biscuits
BM Cooked Meat, Bernard Matthews
Richmond Sausages, Kerry Foods
Cadbury Cakes, Premier Foods
Bessies Potatoes, Heinz
Chicago Town Pizza, Dr Oetke
Clover Spreads, Dairy Crest

(Sources: Sales statistics: AC Nielsen. Palm oil: The Independent)

 

How to recognize cosmetics which contains palm oil?

The following appellations indicate the use of palm oil or palm kernel oil in cosmetics:

– Elaeis Guineensis
– Glyceryl Stearate
– Stearic Acid
– Isopropyl
– Fatty alcohol sulphatesl

Marks & products using/containing palm oil or palm kernel oil:

The body shop, Dove, Axe, etc.

 

How to know if chemicals contains palm oil?

The following appellations indicate the use of palm oil or palm kernel oil in chemicals

– Steareth -2
– Steareth -20
– Sodium Lauryl Sulphate
– Sodium lauryl sulfoacetate (coconut and/or palm)
– Hydrated palm glycerides
– Sodium isostearoyl lactylaye (derived from vegetable stearic acid)
– Cetyl palmitate and octyl palmitate (and anything with palmitate at the end)

Marks & products using/containing palm oil or palm kernel oil:

Lenor, Ariel, Crisco, etc.


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