18/08/2009 (Commercial Pressure on Land) - CADBURY'S use of palm oil is only the tip of the iceberg in the product's use in New Zealand - it is reported to be used in as many as one in 10 products on our supermarket shelves.
 
Conservationists, such as Greenpeace, say its production is responsible for intensive deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, leading to the slaughter of about 50 endangered orang-utans a week, and making Indonesia the world's third highest manmade carbon emitter.

As bad as the move to palm oil and subsequent negative publicity was for Cadbury, some conservation advocates say it has highlighted their cause.

Auckland Zoo has been campaigning against the use of unsustainable palm oil since 2002, ridding their premises of almost all products containing palm oil and trying to educate the public about which products contained the ingredient.

Conservation officer Peter Fraser said the fuss over Cadbury's use of palm oil put the spotlight on what is considered to be one of the world's worst cases of environmental degradation.

"It's been fantastic in that it's brought this to the public's attention. A few years ago no-one even knew they were eating palm oil, let alone in at least every 10 products," he said.

Palm oil has the highest yield of any oil or oil seed crop, producing 3.6 tonnes a hectare, is cheaper than other oils and is healthier than hydrogenated fats.

But the problem conservation groups have with palm oil is that it is bad for the environment. To produce it, vast swaths of land must be deforested and replanted.

According to a 2007 Greenpeace report, more than 74 million hectares of Indonesia's carbon-intensive forests have been destroyed in the past 50 years for palm oil plantations. As a result of the destruction, about 50 orang-utans are dying every week. However, Cadbury is not the only company using palm oil.

Statistics New Zealand figures show that last year New Zealand imported 1,104,187 tonnes of palm kernel, a high quality byproduct of palm oil extraction, for stock feed.

New Zealand's palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia and is used by dairy farmers in Manawatu, Taranaki, Wairarapa and Wanganui.

But it is estimated it is present in one in 10 products on our supermarket shelves - including cosmetics, shaving creams and sweets. However, it could be even more widespread. It is often labelled only as vegetable oil, leading to it being dubbed the "invisible ingredient".