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Is palm oil vegan?

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JackiRipper VIC • Posts: 26

1 15 Aug 2010

So palm oil clears forests and kills animals, and as a vegan I care immensely about animals. Even though palm oil doesn't contain animal products, is it still un-vegan to consume it? That's why I quit smoking; it doesn't contain animal products, but tobacco's often tested on animals. So, while palm oil doesn't have animal products in it, it still harms animals, which I am against, which is why I am vegan.

Does anyone here consume palm oil? Does anyone here know what I should do? I'm often confronted with "of you care so much about animals why do you consume palm oil?"

So, I guess the question is: is it vegan to consume palm oil? or: is palm oil vegan?

Cause it'll eliminate a bunch of foods that I can have, which is fine cause most of them are unhealthy anyway and I need to lose weight and eat more vegetables. But if it does I guess it'll be a fresh-fresh start, I'll be a healthy vegan ecstatic

+ 1

...2 WA • Posts: 2307

2 15 Aug 2010

First of all, congrats on quitting the cancer sticks!

Technically I don't think palm oil is vegan. There's a lot of debate here about palm oil. Ideally, none of us want to consume it, but it's not exactly rare. I'd say avoid it as often as you possibly can, but don't beat yourself up over the occasional palm oil product.

RaV3N WA • Posts: 2152

3 16 Aug 2010

The hard thing about palm oil is it's labeled at "vegetable oil". Now you go pick up 10 products and I bet half of them have vegetable oil in them..... and 9 times out of 10 it is palm oil as it;s the cheapest form of vegetable oil on the market. But at what cost exactly?

Now the thing I think about is... yes land was cleared to plant these new plantations, but that was only once. Once the clearing is done it's done. But on the other hand people are clearing more land for more plantations.

It is hard to avoid if you eat a lot of things that comes out of some form of packaging. But I wouldn't beat yourself up over it too much if you consume some.

JackiRipper VIC • Posts: 26

4 16 Aug 2010

Thanks guys ecstatic

Yeah, I'm trying to track down a list of palm oil products, but I've heard if something has vegetable oil and saturated fats, then it's probably palm oil.
I think I'll try to avoid it, but it won't be as big an issue for me as dairy and meat, which I avoid completely!
Thanks again, I really appreciate it happy

Jacki

meh NSW • Posts: 2674

5 16 Aug 2010

Here is some info on palm oil. http://www.wwf.org.au/ourwork/land/land-clearing-and-palm-oil/

Check out the WWF Palm Oil Buyers' Scorecard Australia 2010 here http://www.wwf.org.au/ourwork/land/land-clearing-and-palm-oil/WWF-Palm-Oil-Scorecard

Looking at the scorecard, I suppose one thing you could do is only buy products with a Unilever or Cadbury label?

I love Cadbury, it's the only chocolate company that not only doesn't test on animals, but is against using child labour in their cocoa plantations =) So, I only eat Cadbury.. though I am trying to go vegan... so it might be Sweet Williams replacing Cadbury, lol!

Mondayschild WA • Posts: 1452

6 16 Aug 2010

Unilever still test on animals though...

meh NSW • Posts: 2674

7 16 Aug 2010

Mondayschild said:

Unilever still test on animals though...

Ohhh! What?! I had no idea!!!! Damn!!!!!! Effing companies with their effing shit! I want to punch them all dead! I use unilever products all the time. My sister told me about how great they were, a friend of hers works for them......DAMN!

Mondayschild WA • Posts: 1452

8 16 Aug 2010

sarahbentvelzen said:

Mondayschild said:

Unilever still test on animals though...

I know... Its so sneaky and disappointing. If you do a search there are a whole bunch of sites promoting boycott of Unilever, and the unilever website says they have a 'commitment to eliminating animal testing'. Obviously they aren't committed enough to actually eliminate it though angry

meh NSW • Posts: 2674

9 16 Aug 2010

Mondayschild said:

sarahbentvelzen said:

Mondayschild said:

Unilever still test on animals though...

Yeah, I just had a look.. man that's so aggravating! I mean, they own practically every kind of product out there! This really pisses me off. Almost every ad you see has a Unilever logo attached to it!!!! ARGH!