Update on toothpaste

The work goes on. Despite my little tantrum yesterday, my dear husband has made me see the positive side of continuing my crusade. He says I have gone at it as I do pretty much everything at a gallop and it was inevitable that I would have to slow to a bit of a canter else I'd just drive myself crazy.

The trouble is, when I'm in gallop mode, that's when I'm at my most productive and creative. Anyway, when it comes to palm oil, I'm going to be taking it a bit slower so I can get on with the rest of my life at the same time.

The big summer busy period is slowing rapidly and so I should have a bit of time for next few weeks.

I'm still on the toothpaste trail at the moment. I got a response to my initial enquiry from Colgate-Palmolive. They say that they use palm oil in Palmolive Shave Stick and in Palmolive Bar Soaps but they have not answered my specific enquiry about whether any of the ingredients in their toothpaste are derived from palm oil. So I've written back asking them about the Sodium Lauryl Sulfate listed on their ingredients list - SLS can be derived from coconut oil as well as palm oil so I've written to them again asking for clarification.

They go on to state that the palm oil they use is sourced from Malaysia and they state they only buy "raw materials sourced from responsible farmers in a responsible nation". If only this were true. In my reply to Colgate-Palmolive, I've made the following points which pretty much sum up my position:

Concerning the point you make that palm oil is an important resource to rural communities, you make no mention of the Penan people being forced out of the forest which has provided them with shelter and food for generations, living in harmony with the forest in a totally sustainable manner.

This very week, the Penan people are protesting against logging and palm oil plantations in five locations in northern Sarawak and in interior Suai in the Niah district south of Miri. If the Malaysian Government and your supplier are doing all that you say about ensuring palm oil is produced in a sustainable and responsible manner, why are the Penan people still at odds with Malaysia’s government and logging/palm oil plantations? After loggers have finished their work, palm oil companies move in and therefore the same palm oil that is creating jobs is also destroying the livelihoods of the nomadic peoples, wiping out any benefit - and all this is quite aside from the fact that wildlife habitat is also disappearing. The palm oil industry cannot wring its hands and say it is the loggers fault, without logging they could not grow their palm oil trees.

Big thanks to Laura's blog where she mentions Milka chocolate - the manufacturers, Kraft, confirm that this chocolate does not contain palm oil and so that's another source for any chocoholiques (along with the Co-Op's fair trade chocolate). At last - some good news! :-)

Kraft confirm that some of their products do contain palm oil and - most unusually - have helpfully provided me with a list so I can avoid those:

• Dairylea Dunkers Baked Crisp
• Kraft Singles Cheese Slices
• Philadelphia Splendips Nachos
• Oreo Biscuits
• Mikado Biscuits
• Ritz Biscuits
• Kenco Cappio Cappuccino
• Kenco Cappio Caffe Latte
• Maxwell House Café Latte
• Maxwell House Cappuccino

I commend Kraft's transparency and openness and thank them for providing this information. Only Weetabix have shown the same level of integrity.

Palm oil in fuel

I've been very slow in updating the palm oil blog lately. To tell you the truth, I'm in despair over it. There is an EU requirement that all fuel supplied in this country contains 5% bio fuel, ie palm oil or other vegetable oils.

Anything I do to reduce the amount of palm oil I eat and use in cosmetics/soap/household products pales into insignificance if palm oil is used in 5% of all the fuel used in the whole of Europe.

UK consumers have shown how much they don't care about palm oil destroying the rainforest by allowing Cadbury to continue to put palm oil in chocolate in this country whereas in New Zealand and Australia, their consumers have got Cadbury to turn tail and run when they proposed putting palm oil in chocolate over there. Why doesn't consumer power work in the UK - because there aren't enough people writing letters and e-mails of complaint.

I've dedicated so much time and effort to this but I'm finding it hard to get the motivation together to write any more letters and e-mails which all achieve nothing if no-one else joins in. I was hoping I could use my research to make a website to inform people how to live without palm oil but it seems pretty much an impossible task now.

Tesco labelling response and toothpaste

I've received a response from Tesco concerning labelling and this is their reply:

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my previous email.

I appreciate that labelling the products which contain Palm Oil would be very beneficial to you and certainly help you in making your choices as to which products you can buy. Regrettably, this is not something we have any plans for at present.

However I can see from your email that you are finding it easier to purchase products from other retailers as they have the information that you need. I will be sure to pass on your further comments to our Head Office to let them know that the lack of information is causing you to shop elsewhere and this is something which will be looked at when planning future labelling reviews.

I would like to thank you again for taking the time to respond and if you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me again.

I have written to them again asking if my Tesco own brand hair mousse contains palm oil as I've run out and the ingredients are confusing - if I were buying this from the Co-Op's own brand, I could be sure it was palm oil free because of their honest labelling policy.

Additionally, I have read this article on Nature Watch (warning: website contains some upsetting photographs of orangutans in distress) and so, whilst I was writing to Tesco, have asked if they are adding palm oil to their diesel. Our car is diesel so I'll have to find out where my husband fills up and see if they are adding palm oil to their diesel.

There have been replies about toothpaste but I am having to write back for clarification on some points so will report on toothpaste when I've got conclusive points to make. At present though it's not looking good and as toothpaste is something I would be very loath to be without, I think I may fail to find an alternative but I'll keep you posted!

My first loaf

Here it is then, my very first loaf made with flour from the Kirton Lindsey windmill. I was so proud of it ... til I cut it. It was all "doughey" inside, like it wasn't cooked all the way through so although it looks nice, it was 'orrible to eat! Far too heavy :-(

Typical me, I started big with a 2lb loaf. I think I'll get a smaller tin tomorrow when I'm in Cambridge and have a go at getting smaller ones right first. I don't think I cooked it for long enough. When I set the timer, I think I set it for the smaller one (recipe gives 3 sizes) and by the time I realised, I couldn't remember what I'd set it at and it looked done so I took it out.

I got a written response from Kingsmill in reply to my letter. They say they DID respond to my earlier e-mail and attached a copy ... but unfortunately, they failed to attach the copy e-mail!

Today - toothpaste

I am on the trail of palm oil free toothpaste today. I have found a shop called Animal Aid Shop and the page I have linked to has some toothpaste on it. I wrote to them last week and they tell me that they are very careful to buy products which do not contain palm oil wherever possible; they stock the Little Satsuma soaps, candles and palm-oil free fudge. They say their chocolates are fine, but some toiletries may contain palm oil.

They haven't specifically stated that the toothpaste is palm oil free but the ingredients are: Aqua, Glycerine (Veg), Creta praeparata, Xanthan gum, Commiphora myrrha, Asorbic acid, D-limolene, (from essential oils), Natural flavour oils. They further state that their toothpaste does not contain Sodium lauryl sulphate, fluorides or Parabens. So I can't find any of the usual suspects in there but I have today discovered on Wikipedia that Glycerine is derived from vegetable oil so I may have to add that one to the list. Before I clarify with Animal Aid, I've written to Colgate, Aquafresh and GlaxoSmithKline (re: Macleans) to see if any of their toothpastes contain palm oil or palm oil derivatives. If any of these are OK, then I won't need to switch anyway.

I've had a very late response from Tesco, I wrote a follow up e-mail to them on 17 June complaining about how labelling was making it very difficult for me to avoid palm oil and suggesting that they could work with the WWF as they're doing a lot of research on their palm oil scorecard. As Tesco already have a database of all the products they sell in their store, it wouldn't be that much more work to add a field for palm oil so people could consult it on-line.

They thank me for writing and apologise for the delay in replying. They acknowledge my difficulty but say they have no plans to introduce a list of free from Palm Oil products.

Tesco have confirmed that two of their own brand products I specifically asked about (Tesco Baby Lotion and the Tesco Finest Greek Olive spread) do not contain palm oil. They offer to query further products if I write again. I was really hoping they might consider some kind of honest labelling policy like the Co-Op which I find really helpful and gives me confidence when buying Co-Op own brand products. (I've therefore written to them to suggest it).

They say that they've fully logged my concerns and they feel that the work they are putting in to bring sustainable ingredients to the market place will stand them in good stead for the scorecard process. I hope the WWF penalise misleading "vegetable oil" labelling of their products when preparing their scorecard.

Vegetable stock problem solved and more flour

I have heard back from Jardox and they have confirmed that Vecon does not contain palm oil or its derivatives so I have found my replacement for Swiss Marigold Bouillon vegetable stock. I made some more of the carrot and ginger soup with lime yesterday and it tastes every bit as good so I'm sticking with this product in the future.

My husband, Geoff, came home with some more breadmaking flour yesterday. The local Co-Op close to where he works has a local products section and this has been milled at Mount Pleasant Windmill, which is located in Lincolnshire a bit further North than Ellis windmill in Lincoln which we visited last Sunday. The Mount Pleasant flour, like the Ellis windmill flour is untreated and unbleached but you can get it by mail order via http://www.trueloafbakery.co.uk/. The flour from Ellis Windmill is only available when they have some bagged up and when we went, I was lucky to get the last but one bag.

It'll probably be Sunday or next week before I finally get round to making my first loaf; as it's getting close to the end of the week, I need to concentrate on getting stock made for my stall on Saturday.

Photograph

Isn't this a lovely photograph of a baby orangutan? (He still has better hair than me!)

The Orangutan Foundation have kindly given me permission to use Freddie's photograph in conjunction with my efforts to raise funds for them on the charity page of my Sooz jewels website.

I am sending the £50 I was going to pay to a picture library to the Orangutan Foundation instead.

I have been a bit remiss on reporting on my progress lately, I've not been totally idle on the palm oil front but some of the letters I've been meaning to write did not get written. I have been making some important decisions concerning my business which have got in the way a bit. (To be announced on Sooz Jewels shortly).

Anyway, the letters to Warburton and Kingsmill have now been written and will go off today. Also, I purchased a jar of Vecon concentrated vegetable stock. It is made by Jardox Health. The list of ingredients look like they're palm oil free but I've e-mailed today for an unequivocal statement concerning palm oil and their products so hopefully I should hear back soon so my chilled soup for lunches can be palm oil free.

My husband and I had a trip out to Ellis Windmill in Lincoln on Sunday afternoon. They mill their own wholemeal flour there which I remembered from a trip there many years ago. It is the only surviving and working windmill out of a total of 9 that used to be in Lincoln. The guy who mills the flour also showed us around the mill and I recommend it for a fascinating hour. They're open Saturday and Sunday afternoons only. Admission is free though donations are welcome.

However, from what the miller told me, the dough produced by their flour isn't the most elastic that's available and I may find kneading it for 10 minutes feels like 20! Sounds like I haven't made the best choice of flour for my first loaf but hey ho, I'll give it a go and report back, Tesco delivered some dried quick acting yeast which is recommended in my book so I have no excuse not to make any now!