- What is Don’t Palm Us Off?
- What is palm oil?
- Why is the Don’t Palm Us Off campaign necessary?
- What is the issue with palm oil?
- What is happening to orangutans?
- How can I tell if products contain palm oil?
- What will labelling palm oil do?
- About orangutans
- Orangutans at Perth Zoo
- External links
What is Don’t Palm Us Off?
Don’t Palm Us Off is a national advocacy campaign that aims to change Australian and New Zealand food-labelling legislation to mandate the labelling of palm oil on all food products.
The signatures collected as part of the campaign will support an application to Food Standards Australia and New Zealand to this effect.
Signature collection ended on 30 June 2010 but awareness raising about the issue continues.
What is palm oil?
Palm oil is one of the world’s most popular vegetable oils. It is found in supermarket products such as chocolate, bread, detergents and cosmetics. It is harvested from the oil palm, which is native to West Africa and was introduced to Malaysia and Indonesia in the early 1900s.
Over 85% of the world’s palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia.
Why is the Don’t Palm Us Off campaign necessary?
Without adequate labelling of palm oil, you might be purchasing products that contribute to the destruction of rainforests in Malaysia and Indonesia, pushing species such as orangutans toward extinction.
The signatures collected and interest in the campaign will show Food Standards Australia and New Zealand that the current labelling is not good enough. It will show them that there is public support to change labelling to clearly identify palm oil as an ingredient.
>Don’t Palm Us Off is about giving you, the consumer, the ability to make an informed decision about the products you purchase.
What is the issue with palm oil?
Palm oil itself isn’t ‘bad’. However, current unsustainable palm oil practices are the
single largest contributor to the destruction of rainforest habitat. Palm oil companies could use already degraded land for palm oil production but instead they seek quick profits from selling valuable forest timber.
What is happening to orangutans?
The rainforests of Malaysia and Indonesia are home to many species, including orangutans. Rainforest is being destroyed at an alarming rate for oil palm plantations.
When displaced orangutans venture into the plantations in search of food, many are slaughtered. Bounties are often offered for their slaughter and orphaned infants are sold in the pet trade.
- Approximately 6,000 orangutans are killed per year and the United Nations warns that orangutans could become extinct within a generation.
- In South-east Asia alone, the equivalent of 300 soccer fields are deforested every hour for palm oil production.
- About 90% of the orangutans’ habitat has been lost.
- Approximately 40% of the products in supermarkets contain palm oil. However, without proper labelling of palm oil, this figure could be much higher.
- It is estimated Australians unknowingly consume an average of 10 kg of palm oil every year.
How can I tell if products contain palm oil?
At this time, palm oil is mostly labelled as vegetable oil, which means that you cannot tell if it is in the products you buy.
Palm oil is also listed as:
- palmitates or palmates
- stearth-2 or steareth-20
- sodium lauryl sulphate
- sodium lauryl sulfoacetale (coconut and palm oil blend)
- elaeis guineensis
- hydrated palm glycerides
- hexadecylic or palmitic acid
- sodium isostearoyl lactylaye
- hexadecylic or palmitic acid
What will labelling palm oil do?
Once palm oil is clearly labelled on food products, consumers can then exert pressure for a sustainable palm oil industry. Without labelling, consumer influence is difficult and our right to make informed decisions is taken from us.
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) has the power to change food labelling legislation. However, in order to justify this change the community needs to ensure that FSANZ know that you want the choice.
You have the right to choose food products that don’t destroy orangutan habitat, yet you currently do not have the choice. Tell FSANZ that you want palm oil labelled on all food products. Tell them don’t palm us off.
About orangutans
There are two species of orangutans – Bornean (endangered) and Sumatran (critically endangered). Sumatran Orangutans are smaller in size than Bornean Orangutans and have a sparser and lighter coloured coat. Both species are arboreal, which means they spend most of their lives in the rainforest canopy.
Orangutans have a coarse, shaggy reddish coat. Males look very different to females and can double them in size. Adult males have a throat pouch and flanges (cheek pads) on either side of their face.
With long arms that can stretch as far as 2.6 m, orangutans move easily through the rainforest canopies. They have opposable thumbs and toes that they use for grasping.
The omnivorous orangutans’ favourite food is fruit, but they will also eat other parts of plants, honey, lizards, termites, birds and eggs.
Humans share 97% of their DNA with orangutans. ‘Orangutan’ is Indonesian for ‘Person of the Forest’.
Download the Sumatran Orangutan Fact Sheet (pdf) for more information.
Orangutans at Perth Zoo
Perth Zoo is considered a world leader in the breeding of the Sumatran Orangutan. The Zoo has successfully bred over 25 orangutans since 1970 as part of an Australasian breeding program.
In 2006, Perth Zoo released one of its female orangutans, Temara, into the protected Bukit Tigapuluh National Park in Sumatra, Indonesia as part of an international program to re-establish a viable population of Sumatran Orangutans in the wild.
Perth Zoo also funded the construction of an Orangutan Open Sanctuary in the rainforest to provide ongoing care for orangutans that cannot be released back into the wild.
External Links
Melbourne Zoo’s Don’t Palm Us Off youtube clip
Auckland Zoo’s Orangutan-friendly Shopping List
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil Palm Oil Action Group
