I love a good biscuit. I’m traditional when it comes to my choices though and I love nothing better than a digestive, hobnob or ginger nut. I’m even proud to admit that yes, I do dunk! So imagine my horror when, during a conversation with our tropical commodities guru the other day, it came out that biscuits are one of the worst culprits when it comes to palm oil. It’s hard to believe that something so small could do so much damage, but unfortunately it’s true.
Palm oil seems to have its fingers in a lot of pies. You find it in everything from biscuits to shampoo. The problem is it’s really tricky to spot. There’s no law saying it has to be labelled as an ingredient and even when it is, it has various different pseudonyms to hide behind. It’s frustrating that we’re not given the information we need to make rainforest friendly choices when we buy things, but don’t worry, we’re working on it!
Palm oil is big business, but when grown unsustainably, it’s bad news for both tropical forests and the wildlife that live in them.
It emerged earlier this week that the former rebel leader, Irwandi Yusuf, had gone back on his promise to protect the tropical forests of the Aceh province of Indonesia by granting a permit to one of Indonesia’s biggest palm oil producers, threatening one of the area’s important peat swamp forests. Located in the north-western tip of Sumatra, Aceh is a strong hold for the Sumatran orang-utan. So far three quarters of the forests in which this beautiful ginger beast live have been cut down for palm oil production and the announcement that this new development has been given the go ahead (breaching a presidential memorandum and legislations that protect the area) throws the future of these amazing primates into doubt. With only 6,600 Sumatran orang-utans thought to be left, loosing the 1,000 that live in this area could have devastating consequences.
So until it’s easy to tell which ones contain sustainable palm oil and which ones don’t, if it comes down to a toss up between having orang-utans or a quick biccie fix, I know which I’d choose. What about you?