Palm Oil

There was a time when all I had to worry about was whether there was a vegetarian option on a menu or at a party. No meat, no fish and, preferably, no Quorn for me thank you very much. How things have changed. Now I need to know if the vegetables are organic, how many miles they've travelled to get to my plate and, what they're cooked in.

My (non-veggie) husband loves fish and chips. Yesterday on the way back from the west coast we stopped at an F+C restaurant. Deciding on a portion of chips with mozzarella sticks I asked the waitress what the chips were cooked in, meaning beef dripping or vegetable oil. I was amazed to hear her say Palm oil. My conscience pricked and I struggled with my demons before giving in to hunger and eating them.

Palm oil is, in fact, in many of the foods we eat, the packaging it comes in and the toiletries and cleaning products we use. It is, indeed, hard to avoid. The reason it is so widely used is that it is far more economical to grow than soybean or coconut trees, using up to ten times less land so I don't imagine it will be banned altogether and many people's livelihood depends on the industry. What we do need to establish is whether it is from a sustainable source or not.

Oil palm trees grow in tropical conditions. Deforestation causes the release of greenhouse gases which then ruin the natural habitat of orangutans and other species. The only sustainable way to grow these trees is to plant them on land which has already been cleared. It's a bit like the green belt vs brown belt land for building. There is a body (RSPO) which has tightened the rules on using only sustainable Palm oil and in 2012 the Government pledged the UK would only use oil from sustainable sources. By 2016 we achieved 75% but there's still a way to go both in the UK and globally.

Tomorrow I shall be emailing the manager of the restaurant to ascertain whether the oil is from a sustainable source. Hopefully so as those chips are laying heavy in my stomach and, on my conscience.