Cadbury reply

I wrote to Cadbury as follows:

I was very pleased to discover that due to consumer pressure, you are not going ahead with using palm oil in your products in New Zealand and Australia. I am concerned though that you are continuing to use it in products supplied to the UK. This suggests that consumer pressure is more effective in those countries. I have been trying to live without palm oil as far as I can as I do not wish my consumer choices to help palm oil plantations continue to destroy wildlife habit in the rainforest. Since the extensive reporting about palm oil and Cadbury, I have stopped buying Cadbury Products. If you have a list of your products that do not contain palm oil, I would find this extremely helpful and would welcome your comments on whether a sustained and effective consumer campaign in the United Kingdom would make Cadbury change their mind about whether to use palm oil in products supplied to the UK.

This is the reply they have sent to me:

Thank you for your query about palm oil and Cadbury.

Cadbury has committed to source all palm oil sustainably by 2014.

We have been a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) since it began. We have played a major role in developing the RSPOs activities and working with other businesses to adopt sustainable palm oil.

We are continuing this work, only buying the palm oil we use from other members of RSPO who are working in the same way and developing sources of sustainable palm oil to use for the small amount of palm oil that is included in some of our products.

Although we only use around 40,000t of palm oil, compared to the millions of tonnes used by others, we have been keen to develop sustainable sources, encouraging others to do the same and to use those sources to help minimise the impact of palm oil production and maintain natural ecosystems. Developing these sustainable sources is also crucial to enable the large users of palm oil in the far-east to also adopt sustainable practices.

This work is continuing and the ongoing support of the multi-stakeholder group of businesses, Governments and campaigning organisations within the RSPO is important in developing increasingly robust farming practices. While our use of palm oil is relatively minor, we view the impact of palm oil development on the environment seriously. As a result, we are also part of the partnership between industry and campaigning organisations such as Greenpeace, WWF, Conservation International, Rainforest Project and the Rainforest Alliance that is speeding up the growth of sustainable sources of palm oil. This also supports a moratorium on any further deforestation that might arise from palm oil farming.

I hope that you would agree that, through our work, we are supporting your suggestions. We will continue to work to deliver and encourage the use of sustainable palm oil in the future. Cadbury Consumer Relations Department

Actually, no I don't agree - just please address my specific requests rather than sending a generic policy that you send to everyone. I have asked for a list of products that do (or do not) contain palm oil (not supplied) and why haven't you addressed why in the UK, we are being palmed off (excuse the pun) with the cheap chocolate whilst the Kiwi's get the better product? (Ignored). I have written back hoping they will address my specific requests next time.

Another donation

I sold a pair of my red mist earrings from my jewellery stall on Saturday (thanks Sue and Lucie) so there's another £6 to send to the Orangutan Foundation. I got the receipt for the first donation this morning so I'll scan it in and post that later in the week when it's hopefully cooled down.

Long-winded e-mails and to-ing and fro-ing with the Co-Op (I won't bore you with the details) has finally established that their Fairtrade milk chocolate is palm oil free. Plus the Co-Op tell me they have an honest labelling policy and so if there is palm oil in their own-brand products, it is listed as that and NOT disguised as something else - hurray for them! So I'm glad I don't have to give up chocolate altogether though I am missing Mars Bars. I always used to get myself one on a Saturday as a treat. :-(

I got a Money Sense magazine recently sent to me by my bank which gave a promotional code to obtain 15% off Elemis products who do beauty and skin care stuff. I wrote to them and they have confirmed back that their products are all palm oil free and (as far as they are aware), the ingredients are not derived from palm oil. I've ordered some things from them including shampoo and conditioner but I'm reserving judgement til I've scrutinised their ingredients list and checked euphemisms etc. It's not very good to say "as far as we're aware"; I think they should know personally plus they're a bit expensive again like Weleda (boo hiss!) Weleda have refunded me my money after I complained about their ingredients list, but not the full amount. What's all that about then??! At least Morning Foods sent me a full refund.

Hovis have replied that their bread is not palm oil free but they have set themselves a target to be 100% Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certified ‘sustainable’ palm oil by 2011. They point out that palm oil comprises only 0.5% of a loaf so I'm wondering why have it at all and why nothing else will do but at least they replied which is more than I can say for Kingsmill and Warburtons so far.

For lunches at the moment, I am currently eating four slices of Ryvita (which from the ingredients list can't possibly contain palm oil). I'm experimenting with different toppings and having some fruit afterwards. Some toppings (such as cheese either sliced or grated) fall off too easily when you're biting it and so it needs something to "wet" the ingredients together so they stick to the crispbread. Plus they have a tin offer on their website! I like tins! :-)

My favourite topping so far has been line caught tuna (from the Co-Op) mashed up with black pepper and a dollop of salad cream. I'm thinking this will also be nice with finely chopped spring onions. Further suggestions are welcome!

I'm thinking lunches in winter can be Heinz Tomato or Vegetable soup with croutons made with toasted French bread from the Cambridge Cheese Company. Might consider making my own bread as well but it's always a question of time really. I don't have a bread maker but I've added The Definitive Guide to Making Bread by Hand or Machine (Pyramid Paperbacks) to my Amazon wish list just to show willing!

The box of cornflakes that won't die!

I have been trying to get rid of the rest of the cornflakes, I abhor waste in about equal measures with palm oil producers so, I bought some Fairtrade Chocolate so I could make chocolate cornflakes (very nice!) However, one bar was not enough and although I've got several chocolate treats to enjoy over next few days, there are STILL some left!

Checking the ingredients on the fairtrade chocolate, it doesn't appear to contain any of the usual suspects for palm oil (as I've discovered that's no guarantee). I've written to the Co-op to be sure as I'm not sure what cocoa mass contains or how skimmed milk powder is made. These could be hiding palm oil as well.

After getting yesterday's response from Mornflake's manufacturers, I wrote to them asking why they lied to me. This is their apology:

I am sorry for my error - I misinterpreted some information I had been given, I had been asking about the Pillow products, e.g. Mornflake Chocolate Squares etc and was told that "none of them contain palm oil" meaning none of the pillow products......

All of the Crunchy and Crispy products contain Palm Oil but none of the pure Oat products and in the muesli range it is only the vine fruit dressing oil.

Please let me know what you bought and how much you paid and we will arrange a refund.

So they're not liars after all, they just employ incompetent staff. I'm not withdrawing yesterday's blog posting because this is a diary after all and that is how I felt about it yesterday. It ruined my day's production because I was so angry about it.

Next Tesco shop, I will be buying from the Weetabix Ltd palm oil free list and seeing if I like any of those. In the meantime, I'll be eating the Mornflake products so they're not wasted though I get cross every time I see the packet!

In exasperation from the Weleda incident, I wrote an e-mail to Little Satsuma. They claim to be palm oil free but as I've heard that before, my e-mail may have read a little aggressively but I have received a lovely e-mail back. They say: "We as a small, family company set up specifically because we couldn't get palm oil free toiletries". They have been scrutinised by the Orangutan Foundation as they supply them (so I've probably got some of their stuff on the way!) And so ... finally ... a company I can trust. I will be ordering some of their products later on.