Food brands in France 鈥榟iding鈥� palm oil as ingredient
Palm oil is being 鈥渉idden鈥� in traditional products in French supermarkets, with 鈥渃lever marketing鈥� designed to mislead consumers, a food NGO has found.
It is a legal requirement in France to list the controversial product palm oil as an ingredient in food products.
Yet, words such as 鈥渢radition鈥�, 鈥渉omemade鈥� and 鈥済randmother鈥檚 recipe鈥� on packaging, are regularly used a means to dissuade consumers from looking too closely at ingredients lists, NGO Foodwatch an investigation.
It looked at five products from the brands Krisprolls, LU, Herta, Lindt and Knorr, all of which contain palm oil.
These included pre-packaged wholegrain toasts, biscuits, chocolate boxes and pre-made soups - the latter of which actually had palm oil as its principal ingredient, Foodwatch said.
In its report, : 鈥淢anufacturers are overflowing with inventiveness to avoid supermarket shoppers from being tempted to turn the packaging over to read the small print.鈥�
Instead, they use marketing to 鈥渄istract attention鈥�, including images of 鈥渂eautiful ears of wheat, the mention of 鈥榯radition鈥� or a recipe handed down from our grandmothers鈥�, the NGO said.
It has now launched a campaign video including the hashtag #HuiledePalmeNonMerci (#PalmOilNoThankYou). There is also to sign against the practice, which has already gathered almost 9,500 signatures.
Camille Dorioz, campaign manager for Foodwatch, : 鈥淭his is a scam. Palm oil is very controversial due to its impact on the environment, social rights, and health.鈥�
She added that the only benefit to manufacturers is its low cost.
In the past 20 years, global production of palm oil has risen from 17 million tonnes to 70 million. It has been favoured by manufacturers due to its low product costs, and its pleasing texture, lack of odour, and preservative qualities.
However, it has been linked to a number of health complaints, and to worker exploitation, as well as being a key cause of deforestation worldwide - especially in the forests of Malaysia.
