Products with Palm Oil

—

by

James Walters
in
Greenpeace challenges palm oil

Here we look at; Foods that Contain Palm Oil; Brands and Companies to Avoid; Palm Oil Free and Sustainable Palm Oil Products. This is one of over 40 ideas in our Sustainability Roadmap to Help Stop Climate Change, part of our campaign to #VoteWithOurMoney, and part of our series on Living Sustainably.

If you already know the destruction caused by unsustainable palm oil, here are the options to switch to products with no palm oil or sustainable palm oil:

  1. Palm Oil
  2. Brands and Companies that use Palm Oil
  3. The Ethical Consumer’s Palm Oil Free List
  4. Palm Oil Free Chocolate
  5. Palm Oil Free Shampoo
  6. Palm Oil Free Soap
  7. Palm Oil Free Toothpaste

If you want some more facts before making any decisions, let’s get into the details:

Palm oil is a cheap substitute for butter and other oils. This is because oil palm is around nine times as productive per acre than the next most productive oil crop.

Half of the world’s rainforests have been cleared. Palm oil is a major driver of deforestation of these diverse forests. Deforestation is a major part of climate change and global heating (read more in our article How To Sustain Life On Our Planet).

farmed peatland
Image credit: https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/challenges/palm-oil/

Deforestation of these bio-diverse forests also wipe out the habitat of endangered species including rhinos, elephants, and orangutans.

The best option is to buy products that don’t use palm oil (or any palm oil derivatives; look out for words including Palm, Stear, Laur, Glyc), one example is peanut butter:

These products may be slightly more expensive but we are what we eat, what we eat goes into the cells of our body, the wrong foods—produced using artificial fertilisers, pesticides and dangerous chemicals, additives and preservatives—are an important part of our long-term health; we either eat the right foods now, or we’ll pay with our health and happiness later in life.

If buying the right foods is out of reach:

  1. What could you eat that is good for your long-term health?
  2. Instead of buying foods, could you make them using the right ingredients?
  3. If you’d like some advice, send a message on our contact page.

Foods that Contain Palm Oil

Palm oil is found in many everyday products.

When buying products that use palm oil, it’s important that the ingredients show at least Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) then also ideally Organic, Fairpalm, The Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG), High Carbon Stock (HCS). Overall, buying Biodynamic, Organic, or Regenerative products are an excellent place to start (learn more here about growing sustainably).

Brands and Companies to Avoid

It might be helpful to have a list of the companies and brands to avoid, as a good step towards avoiding products that contain unsustainable palm oil.

The list created by Ethical Consumer covers:

  1. Margarine and spreads
  2. Bread
  3. Cereal
  4. Food retailers
  5. Other food companies and brands
  6. Drinks companies
  7. Coffee shops
  8. Fast food and takeaways
  9. Restaurants
  10. Pet food
  11. Perfume
  12. Beauty products
  13. Cleaning products

Learn more in Brands and Companies that use Palm Oil

Palm Oil Free and Sustainable Palm Oil Products

It’s possible to buy products that contain no palm oil or at least use sustainably sourced palm oil.

Iceland currently gets the best Ethical Consumer rating for palm oil, as all it’s own brand food is palm oil free. My impression of Iceland has changed since listening to a great Kindness Economy podcast with Richard Walker, Iceland MD, about the sustainability changes he has been making with the business. Marks and Spencer also got a top ethical rating as all palm oil used is RSPO certified.

The list created by Ethical Consumer covers:

  1. Biscuits
  2. Bread
  3. Pet food
  4. Nut butters
  5. Chocolate spread
  6. Chocolate and gift chocolates
  7. Butter, margarine, and spreads
  8. Breakfast cereals
  9. Shampoo
  10. Soap
  11. Make up
  12. Perfume
  13. Skincare
  14. Shaving gel and foam
  15. Shower gel
  16. Toothpaste
  17. Deodorant
  18. Sunscreen
  19. Laundry detergents

Learn more at Ethical Consumer Palm Oil Free

Palm Oil Free Chocolate

Palm oil is used in a lot of chocolate bars and boxes.

Learn more about Palm oil free chocolate

Palm Oil Free Shampoo

When you wash your hair with most shop bought shampoos, the chemicals in the shampoo strip away the hair’s natural oils. Palm oil is used as an ingredient to help restore those oils. The best solution is to stop using most shop bought shampoos to avoid those chemicals completely. The recipe that I use for homemade shampoo is taken from the Dr Axe Eat Dirt book that you can find here on Amazon*.

Find the Eat Dirt Book by Dr. Axe Here on Amazon*

Eat Dirt book by Dr. Josh Axe

Learn more about Palm oil free shampoo

Palm Oil Free Soap

In soap, palm oil (and it’s derivatives) is used as a fat. The best solution is to make your own soap so you can control the quality of the ingredients. I make soap at home using the Soap Queen basic soap recipe and I buy my soap making products from The Soapery that you can find here on Amazon*.

Learn more about Palm oil free soap

Palm Oil Free Toothpaste

Palm oil is used in toothpaste as a dispersant. It can appear under LOTS of different names such as (this list is taken from Palm Oil Free Toothpaste):

  1. Vegetable Oil
  2. Vegetable Fat
  3. Palm Kernel
  4. Palm Kernel Oil
  5. Palm Fruit Oil
  6. Palmate
  7. Palmitate
  8. Palmolein
  9. Glyceryl
  10. Stearate
  11. Stearic Acid
  12. Elaeis Guineensis
  13. Palmitic Acid
  14. Palm Stearine
  15. Palmitoyl Oxostearamide
  16. Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-3
  17. Sodium Laureth Sulfate
  18. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
  19. Sodium Kernelate
  20. Sodium Palm Kernelate
  21. Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate
  22. Hydrated Palm Glycerides
  23. Etyl Palmitate
  24. Octyl Palmitate
  25. Palmityl Alcohol

Learn more about Palm oil free toothpaste

Fairpalm Palm Oil

You could also look out for products that contain fairpalm palm oil.

Here Is What You Can Do

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Sources Used to Create This

  1. Palm Oil (28th March 2019)
  2. Brands and Companies that use Palm Oil (7th December 2020)
  3. The Ethical Consumer’s Palm Oil Free List (3rd March 2021)
  4. Palm Oil Free Chocolate (1st December 2020)
  5. Palm Oil Free Shampoo (29th April 2020)
  6. Palm Oil Free Soap (30th April 2020)
  7. Palm Oil Free Toothpaste (29th May 2020)
  8. Fairpalm – a Truly Sustainable Option?
  9. Foods that contain palm oil
  10. RSPO – Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
  11. About Sustainable Palm Oil | Traidcraft Online Shop
  12. Palm Oil Innovation Group | A journey towards responsible palm oil
  13. High Carbon Stock Approach | A resource site on the HCS Approach
  14. Palm oil

Production Notes

This was produced by me, James Walters, as a personal project to help stop climate change by inspiring others to grow, eat, and live sustainably.

Any advice given is the opinion of those involved and does not constitute medical, financial, or legal advice.

* We include links we think you will find useful. If you buy through those links, we may earn a small commission. It’s one way to support our work and to inspire as many people as possible.