Sabah Palm Oil Fields

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Sabah Palm Oil Fields

Relentless palm oil plantations have replaced huge areas of secondary rainforest in this part of Borneo with devastating impacts to forest habitat, indigenous people and wildlife. The United Nations Environment Programme states that palm oil plantations are now the leading cause of rainforest destruction in Borneo and Indonesia and the burning of forests to clear land for palm oil plantations is a major cause of air pollution in Southeast Asia.

Palm oil is the cheapest vegetable oil to produce and has a longer shelf life than other vegetable oils which helps explain why its found in over 50% of our packaged foods, items such as crisps, butter, chocolates, cakes, biscuits and crackers. Its very high in saturated fats which can be damaging for our health and it can also found in toothpaste, soap, shampoo and cosmetics.

If you want to avoid buying palm oil when buying food, look for the label stating it contains vegetable oil. If only vegetable oil (no animal fat listed) is used and there is saturated fat in the product - you are buying palm oil.

There are over 200 alternative ingredient names for palm oil so it can be difficult to detect but you can avoid eating it by cooking and snacking with whole foods, rather than choosing pre-made meals and cheap processed snacks.

More info about palm oil here

http://www.saynotopalmoil.com