Palm oil stands as the most widely utilized vegetable oil globally, providing significant advantages for food manufacturers. It is not only less expensive than other oils, but it also boasts a long shelf life and processing benefits, such as stability at high temperatures and solidification at room temperature. Consequently, it has emerged as a favored substitute for partially hydrogenated oils. When managed properly, palm oil is also considerably more land-efficient than other vegetable oils, yielding ten times more oil per hectare than soybeans and significantly surpassing the yields from sunflower and rapeseed.
RAN has raised particular concerns regarding the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where the rainforest, a vital habitat for orangutans, rhinos, clouded leopards, and sun bears, is vanishing due to what the group claims are illegal palm oil plantations. RAN reports that companies like Nestlé, Mars, and Hershey source palm oil from this region through intricate supply chains, sometimes involving commodity traders who deal with suppliers engaged in illegal logging activities. In 2014, the United Nations committed to halving global deforestation by 2020 and completely eradicating it by 2030. Following this, numerous consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies established their policies on palm oil sourcing.
The production of palm oil in Malaysia and Indonesia is contentious, as some companies are implicated in extensive deforestation and the burning of peatland to cultivate palm oil trees. The United Nations has stated that palm oil plantations are a significant cause of environmental degradation and biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia. While there are alternatives to palm oil, many of them are more costly, though some are notably more sustainable. For instance, algae can yield around 70,000 pounds of oil per acre compared to palm oil’s 4,465 pounds per acre. In contrast, olives yield about 910 pounds per acre, and soybeans produce a mere 335 pounds.
Confectionery and snack manufacturers appear determined to continue using palm oil. However, some acknowledge that ensuring sustainability is more challenging than they initially thought. “While we remain deeply committed to pushing all stakeholders to accelerate traceability and bring full transparency to this supply chain along with our supplier partners, we realized it would take more time to achieve this goal than originally anticipated,” stated Jeff Beckman, Hershey’s communications director, in an interview with The Guardian. This poses a formidable challenge, but some companies have already met their sourcing objectives. Mondelez announced in 2013 that it had achieved its goal of using palm oil that is 100% certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, an international not-for-profit organization dedicated to ensuring sustainable sourcing of the ingredient. Additionally, Mondelez has taken a firm stance against collaborating with palm oil suppliers that engage in deforestation.
RAN is not the only organization monitoring the commitments made by companies to ensure sustainable palm oil usage. Last year, Greenpeace released a scorecard assessing which companies were making progress toward their sustainability goals. The only two companies rated as “on track” were Nestlé and Ferrero.
There may be more sustainability initiatives on the horizon. Last year, several food corporations severed ties with IOI Loders Croklaan, a Malaysian palm oil producer whose anti-deforestation policies were deemed inadequate. In September, New York-based Bunge, a major player in ingredients and oils, announced its acquisition of a 70% stake in the company, pledging to enhance sustainability and traceability measures.
It is unlikely that RAN and similar organizations will cease their pressure on food companies to avoid sourcing palm oil from at-risk habitats like those in Sumatra. The dilemma for manufacturers is whether the risk of negative publicity is worth it in order to continue sourcing palm oil from such regions and other conflict zones when viable alternatives exist. Ultimately, it falls to consumers to decide whether they care about the inclusion of potentially problematic palm oil in their food products, especially as the market evolves towards more sustainable practices, including the use of citrate malate in some formulations.