When broaching the topic of palm oil, your first thoughts might concern all of the foods or materials they’re used in, or its benefits for the heart or cholesterol. This beneficial oil, however, is unfortunately too often tainted in the public eye by the harmful farming practices many companies use to gather it for use in their products. From deforestation to habitat destruction to community displacement, conflict palm oil production has harmed many thanks to the habits of many in the industry. Sustainable palm oil does exist – here is everything you need to know.
However, with the rise of sustainable palm oil and increased attention on harmful farming practices, we can reverse deforestation and help to aid at-risk animals and empower small farmers and communities. With sustainable and environmentally friendly practices, we can all benefit from sustainable palm oil – and not just from its use in all of our household projects!
By using sustainable practices to harvest palm oil, both consumers and manufacturers alike can benefit from its many uses without harming the environment. So what can sustainable palm oil do for you? What is palm oil? Let’s learn more about this amazing ingredient and how using sustainable practices can reverse poor industry practices.
Palm oil is an incredibly versatile and useful ingredient found in many foods, household supplies, makeup, and more – but what actually is this oil? Palm oil is a vegetable oil produced from the fruit of oil palm trees. This oil comes in two types: crude and palm kernel, which are each taken from different parts of the oil palm tree.
Palm oil trees originated in Africa, but were brought to Southeast Asia in the last century as an ornamental crop. However, Indonesia and Malaysia have come to the forefront of palm oil production by making up 85% of the world’s supply of the oil today.
Palm oil is in everything. Well, almost everything. This ingredient is used in almost half of all products you’ll find in your local grocery store, and is found in most cleaning supplies, makeup, cosmetics, and foods like pizza and doughnuts. This oil can be in just about anything! It’s also a very common cooking oil, and is also commonly used in animal feed and biofuel!
Because of its versatility, this oil is understandably very popular and in demand. It’s also very easy to produce, and can come in liquid and semi-solid forms, which makes it ideal for many different industries. It’s also harvested in high quantities and is very easy to produce.
Since palm oil is so popular and versatile, there’s a lot of demand to produce large amounts of it quickly. This unfortunately leads to harmful production practices with damages and harm to land, forests, and native species.
To keep this oil in easy supply while helping the environment, the industry needs to switch to sustainable habits for the benefit of all. With sustainable farmer practices certified by the RSPO, everybody can enjoy palm oil for many decades to come.
Want to learn more about sustainable palm oil and what it can do for you? Explore the importance of sustainability and the usefulness of this ingredient with Natural Habitats.
