As part of my food diary for Oxfam's GROW week, I wrote a rather lengthy post about Palm Oil. A couple of weeks later BBC Radio 4's Food Programme featured an episode about Palm Oil which I would recommend listening to.
It may have answered my query about the two differently labelled biscuit packets in Sainsburys, where one said "Made with Sustainable Palm Oil" and the other said "Supports Sustainable Palm Oil". It turns out that there is a somewhat dubious "credit" system where companies can purchase unaccredited (and most likely not sustainably produced) Palm Oil then buy a certificate from sustainable producers to compensate... Hmmm.
It's certainly a very interesting programme and well worth a listen. Palm Oil itself seems to be almost some kind of wonder product - it's only the way its production in response to the ever increasing global demand is being managed.
I found the last part of the programme which looked at Palm Oil as a traditional ingredient in some African countries, comparing it to the equivalent of Olive Oil in Italian cooking, particularly thought provoking. I had never even considered the heritage of Palm Oil - from which it is now very far removed.
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