What is
palm oil?
Learn about this common ingredient and why it can spell bad news for wildlife…
Imagine an ingredient that makes soaps foamier, crisps crispier, and can even make cookies healthier – all while feeding animals, and fuelling cars!
What is this magical mystery ingredient, you ask? Well, gang, it’s palm oil – and you can find it almost everywhere! But what is palm oil, and why does it have a bad reputation, when it comes to the planet? Read on to find out…
What is palm oil?
Palm oil is harvested from the fruit of oil palm trees (Elaeis guineensis). Squeezing the fleshy fruit will produce crude palm oil, while crushing the kernel (seed) of the fruit will produce palm kernel oil.
Oil palm trees are native to Africa and historically grew in countries to its west and south-west. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they were introduced to Indonesia and Malaysia. Today, these countries produce over 85% of the global supply of palm oil!
What is palm oil used for?
Well, the answer is just about everything! Almost 50% of the packaged products in supermarkets contain palm oil, because it’s such an adaptable ingredient that can be used in a huge variety of things.
Its texture can help make things spreadable, it helps give products a longer shelf-life, and importantly, it has no odour or colour, so it doesn’t affect the look or smell of the products it’s used in. All these benefits make it very attractive to manufacturers.
- Check out this list of everyday items you might find at the supermarket. Can you guess which ones contain palm oil?
- – Toothpaste
- – Frozen pizza
- – Shampoo
- – Lipstick
- – Biscuits
- – Packaged bread
- – Margarine
- – Ice cream
- – Cereal
- – Soap
How many did you guess? If you guessed all of them, then you’re right!
Why is palm oil bad?
Before palm oil ends up in your products, oil palm trees have to be grown on a plantation (an area of land used to farm crops), and that plantation takes up land. In fact, with global demand for palm oil being so high, oil palm plantations now cover huge areas of Indonesia and Malaysia.
To make way for palm oil plantations, huge areas of rainforest are being destroyed. In fact, palm oil production is one of the biggest reasons for deforestation around the world. As forests are torn up, the endangered species that live in them – like orangutans, elephants and gorillas – suffer, too. If nothing changes, many of these species may soon become extinct.
And that’s not all, because the cutting down of trees and an increased risk of wildfires on plantations causes lots of carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere. And that’s bad news for climate change!
How can I help?
Thankfully, there is a better way of doing things. More and more companies around the world are using sustainable palm oil. This means palm oil that’s used and produced in a way that doesn’t harm the environment. And others are creating brilliant products that avoid palm oil altogether!
TOP TIP!
You can check whether a product contains sustainable palm oil by looking for the RSPO label, which was created by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to signal that a product uses responsibly sourced palm oil. It can be a little hard to find, so make sure you keep your eyes peeled!
You can also do your own research and find out which of your favourite products contain palm oil. If they do and you don’t know if it’s sustainable or not, then why not get in contact with the manufacturer, and ask them about it? You can make a difference!
Check out this list by the Ethical Consumer. It lists all the common products that contain palm oil and includes palm-oil free options, too!
Thanks to Vlad Hilitanu; Fikri Rasyid; Peter Bond; Nazarizal Mohammad; Ihsan Aditya; Bishnu Sarangi, and Tafilah Yusof for the images used in this article.
What did you think of our palm oil article? Let us know your thoughts by leaving us a comment, below!
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I like the quiz it's funny that all of them have palm oil in them
yes lets get rid of PALM OIL
get rid of palm oil
GET RID OF PALM OIL!!!!!!!!!!!!
LETS TAKE ACTION GET RID OF PALM OIL!
Get rid of palm oil
Down with palm oil
thank this helped me with my homework but WE NEED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!! deforestation no good. :(
We need to take action and save environment before it’s all over.
this is so fun
This is fun :)
Thanks for the help it helped me do my source for the rainforest
Thanks for the great article!
Thanks for the great article !
We should be careful of what we eat and what we use because it may have palm oil. We sould try to to use less palm oil. PS be careful
We really need to save the rainforests from Palm Oil Plantations and save the Orangutan's, Elephants and more!
Wow, thats cool!
It very much important
oh no we need to help LETS TAKE ACTION we need to help save the animals
Save the ocean!
I'm doing a summary about it
this palm oil artcile was very cool
50% products have palm oil!!! My dads intolerant,... must be so hard for him. At least it means we buy less products with palm oil in them
I think and belive that these products need to be created with more sustainable palm oil
Whats the point in having palm oil if it destroys rainforest? I don't want palm oil if this is what happens
Poor animals I think let’s try to stop buying things the are with non sustainable palm oil . So then they stop cutting down the forest so we can save those animals . If you agree say stop buying non sustainable palm oil .
The poor animals!?
i hope at some point people will use satstainable palm oil or not use at all in their products bc its harming animals and the planet
I really want to learn more
thanks didn't know that
those poor animals with no food think about how you can help
Poor animals...those tigers....those orangutans....all those rainforest frogs....
If you read the Nat Geo Kids Magazine then you would've heard of this and I, as a subscriber to the magazine have heard this name many times. Also its apparently extremely harmful to Orangutans the most, sorry monkey fans!
This is so sad we have to do something about this
Let’s take action and stop this from happening palm oil doesn’t have to be used so we can hopefully find a suitable substitute!
Cool facts
I did not know that many facts about palm oil
Wow! I did not know that palm oil was so harmful to the environment!
cool
that is sad
I didn't know palm oil was so harmful
Wow cool next time a bit more detail
In year 5 i learnt this I know more now #savethewildlife
no i no that palm oil is bad ill stop buying it
that was AMAZING
Save the rainforest
good story
yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
yea no palm oil
i love minecraft and frogs
Im suprised that palm oil is so useful but so destructive. This article definitely taught me something new.Keep up the good work :]
this is a among us article and is epic
Wow!
GOOD
It was outstanding and it really taught us about what palm oil can do to the environment
Protect the ocean
Great
cool! :]
COOL!
Love animals stay cool drink water and play
cool
I am sad that its bad news for some amimals
LOVE YOURSELF And be cool
Wow
They have to stop! We must do something about this!
we can still help climate change
We have to save our planet
interesting!
We have to take action
I like facts
I want to do anything to help!!
this helped me with school, thanks
thanks whoever made this artical!
Cool
Cool
i want to eat more palm oil
Thank you! I am so inspired! I will not use palm oil any more! :-)
wow! so intresting
i love frogs and minecraft
sad I now hate plam oil
greaat
I LOVE ANIMALS!!!! So... I AM GOING TO HELP...but can I live without palm oil... OF COURSE I CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM GOING TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT
SOOOO COOL!
cool
I LOVE ANIMALS!!!! So... I AM GOING TO HELP...But can I live without palm oil... OF COURSE I CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM GOING TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT!!!!!!
wow.
I like this
It is like plastic. Harmful for environment but useful. Should find sustainable version.
palm oil is bad for the planet!
i feel so bad :( i really wan tot help
Good info report!!!
I think Pam oil is terrible but quite useful so I will always check the label also I found out loads of stuff that I can help with
We need to get rid of it!
Palm oil is so bad for the environment, and it contributes to climate change. Here's why: Around 71% of our world is covered in water, and most of it is filled with plastic. It’s in the air, our food and our drinks. This is called Ocean Pollution, and it also contributes to climate change. It kills marine life, makes the ocean more acidic, produces carbon dioxide and the heat from the sun reflected on all of the microplastics melts ice and glaciers. Some side effects of climate change on oceans are dead sea life and higher sea levels. 31% of Earth is covered in trees. Trees are so important to aid defence against climate change. They store carbon dioxide, but when humans cut down trees, they release carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, contributing to climate change.
cool
I have always known that palm oil is bad for the environment, but I never knew why!
OOF that is so sad for our poor earth.
This inspired me to learn more about the environment. It has always been a dream of mine to join National Geographic when I'm older and go an explore the world.
So interesting. I’m glad people are taking action and we can help
Cool
Very Intersting!
wow
Wow thare are lots of incredible facts about palm oil.
Wow!
CUSTOMIZE YOUR AVATAR