Due to lack of space the Gazette is unable to print the list mentioned in this article. Please visit BOS website www.orangutans.com.au and click on ‘Helping you buy responsibly – Palm oil free alternatives’ for the full comprehensive list discussed here.

Sue Floyed from BOS tells The Gazette: ‘We have spent many volunteer hours compiling this list, our volunteers visit supermarkets, read labels and then we write to manufactures to confirm that they do not use Palm oil. We will not publish the names of companies who do not respond to our requests confirming that they do not use palm oil. Once we have a response and are satisfied that they do not use Palm oil in a product, we then list the product. This takes lots of time as you can well imagine.” Sue has just returned from Borneo searching for wild orangutans and is saddened by the continuing destruction and rape of the rainforest. Time is running out - we all need to do our bit to help save these beautiful and extremely vulnerable primates.

From  the BOS website:
We often receive inquiries from concerned individuals asking what they can do in the battle to save the orang-utan. Many have heard about palm oil and don’t want to be complicit in fuelling demand for the product which is decimating the orang-utan’s habitat.
However it is not always easy to identify products with palm oil. Under Food Standards Australia New Zealand requirements, it is sufficient to have vegetable oil in the list of ingredients on the packet, even though the product contains palm oil.
As a rule of thumb, if the saturated fat content is about 50%, there is a good chance that the vegetable oil will in fact be palm oil.
Another thing to watch out for on the ingredients list is margarine. If the product contains margarine, it is highly likely that the margarine will have been derived from palm oil.
Additives and agents such as emulsifiers (E471 is a common one), while a small component of the overall product, can also be derived from palm oil.
Other names to keep an eye out for that could be or be derived from palm oil are cocoa butter equivalent (CBE), cocoa butter substitute (CBS), palm olein and palm stearine. In non-food products like soaps and detergents, the list includes elaeis guineensis, sodium lauryl sulphate, cetyl alcohol, stearic acid, isopropyl and other palmitates, steareth-2, steareth-20 and fatty alcohol sulphates – all of which may be derived from palm oil.
So how do you make an informed choice?
We thought we’d help the process by building a list of products which don’t contain palm oil. We targeted those food categories which are particularly suspect – biscuits, processed foods, chocolates, snacks etc. We’ll be adding categories and products as the information becomes available.
Some comments to consider when reviewing the list:
* The list is not all inclusive and there may well be other products in the categories covered which are palm oil free – if you know of any, please send details through to us at contact@orangutans.com.au
* Where labelling is not definitive, we have attempted to confirm the information in this list through letters from our supporters to the manufacturers.
* Nearly all Australian manufacturers contacted informed us that where products did contain palm oil, it was from sustainable sources. This is a good start, but the effectiveness of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (www.rspo.org) is yet to be proven.
* Product specifications can change – the information in this list is believed to be correct at the time of publication.
* This list is designed to comment on the use of palm oil only. It does not purport to cover health and other ethics issues which may also influence a consumer’s buying decision.

Palm Oil Free Products
 
Dry biscuits
Hampden Trading Pty Ltd has confirmed that any palm oil used in its other Artisse products is sourced from environmentally sustainable palm plantations in South America.

Frozen meals & fish
McCain Foods has informed us that it does not use palm oil in its frozen dinners.
Nestle (Lean Cuisine, Maggi) has indicated that palm oil is not an ingredient in the majority of its frozen meals but has not been able to be more specific. We’ve put together a list of those products which don’t have vegetable oil listed as an ingredient - not a guarantee but the best we can do with the information we have.

Frozen snacks / pies / pizzas / pastry
We have been informed that Australian frozen pie manufacturers have had no alternative for pastry but to use margarine which contains palm oil. Work is underway to develop a palm oil free alternative for food manufacturers.
We have found a chilled filo pastry which contains no palm oil and is listed on the web site.
Most pizza products we looked at contained vegetable oil and in many cases E471 as an emulsifier. McCain has responded that palm oil is not used in the preparation of its pizzas so we assume that the vegetable oil listed as an ingredient in its products is not palm oil.
Steggles has informed us that it uses cottonseed and canola as its frying and general food oil. While not specified in its formulations, Steggles advises that its suppliers may use emulsifiers including E471 at very low levels which don’t require labelling.

Margarines & spreads
Goodman Fielder and Unilever, the two major producers of spreads in Australia, have confirmed that all their spreads contain a percentage of palm oil. Fonterra has also confirmed that its Western Star spread range may contain palm oil.
Nuttelex’s main ingredient is sunflower oil but it does also contain a small amount of palm oil. Similarly, Alfa rice bran spread uses rice bran oil but the emulsifier contains palm oil as a carrier.
So, it’s back to butter or the following products which we believe are palm oil free (see website for list)

House brands
Woolworths Ltd’s Sustainability Strategy, released in 2007, states that it has been able to exclude palm oil from its Select brand food products and is in the process of phasing it out from all Home brand food products and in-store baked goods. It comments that the latter is challenging as in-store baked goods may contain margarine and other ingredients supplied by third parties. We are seeking confirmation from Woolworths that all Select products are indeed palm oil free.
Coles has informed us that it does not have a list available of the “You’ll Love Coles” or “$martBuy” products that are palm oil free. Its house brand standards demand that the used of palm oil is in line with RSPO principles and it is Coles’ intention to move towards declaring palm oil in its labelling.

Non-food products
Finding soap without palm oil in supermarkets is difficult. However, we have been alerted to a couple of online suppliers who produce a palm oil free product as well as shampoo and moisturiser products. Visit their sites for the full range.
Lush has announced its intention to move to palm oil free soaps and this process is underway in the UK. Australian products still contain palm oil as previously acquired stocks are being utilised before moving to the new formulation. We’ll let you know when Lush palm oil free products become available.

Reproduced with permission from Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Australia.

Paper Company To Log Orang-utan Sanctuary

The company says its plans to log forest areas around Bukit Tigapuluh will actually help the orangutans

An Indonesian paper company is planning to log an area of unprotected jungle which is being used as a reintroduction site for about 100 critically endangered orangutans, activists say.
A coalition of environmental groups said a joint venture between Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) and Sinar Mas Group had received a licence to clear the largest portion of natural forest remaining outside Bukit Tigapuluh national park on Sumatra .
The area is home to about 100 great apes who are part of the only successful reintroduction program for Sumatran orangutans, the sub-species most at risk of extinction, the coalition said in a statement.
It is also a crucial habitat for the last remaining Sumatran tigers and elephants left in the wild.
“It took scientists decades to discover how to successfully reintroduce critically endangered orangutans from captivity into the wild,” said Peter Pratje of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, which is part of the coalition.
“It could take APP just months to destroy an important part of their new habitat.
“These lowland forests are excellent habitat for orangutans, which is why we got government permission to release them here beginning in 2002. The apes are thriving now, breeding and establishing new family groups.”
The unprotected forest is also considered essential habitat for around 100 of the last 400 critically endangered wild Sumatran tigers, as well as around 40 to 60 endangered Sumatran elephants, the activists said.
“APP’s plan is devastating,” said Dolly Priatna of the Zoological Society of London.
“It will almost certainly lead to more fatalities since tigers and people will be forced into closer contact with each other as the tigers’ forest disappears.”
At least nine people have been killed by tigers on Sumatra this year, while villagers have killed four tigers.
The coalition, which includes the Sumatran Tiger Conservation and Protection Foundation and WWF, said almost half of Sumatra ‘s natural forest had been cleared from 1985 to 2007.
APP has said its plans to log forest areas around Bukit Tigapuluh would actually help the orangutans, not harm them.
“Well-managed pulpwood plantations act as buffer zones, which have been proven to deter illegal logging - this ensures that protected areas remain protected,” APP sustainability director Aida Greenbury said.
The Government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has allowed 1.8 million hectares of forest to be cleared annually since 2004, according to environmental group Greenpeace.
Indonesia’s greenhouse gas emissions are the third highest globally, and deforestation is the largest contributor.
- AFP 20/5/09 Reuters: Nicky Loh