Updated on November 11th, 2022
If you wonder why palm oil is not vegan, you have come to the right place. Here, we’ll explore its effects on animals, the impact on the environment, and the human factor. Hopefully, by the time you finish reading this, you’ll have a clearer idea of the issue. But, before we do, let’s take a closer look at the ethical aspects. First of all, is palm oil vegan? No, but ethical production and consumption are.
Is Palm Oil Vegan?
Palm oil is a vegetable, and its unprocessed form is technically vegan. Palm fruit, which grows on African oil palm trees, is used to make it. Although palm oil is vegan in theory, many vegans avoid it because they believe its extraction exploits animals and causes them pain and suffering, which vegans abhor.
Palm oil harms the environment. Vast swaths of rainforest are destroyed to make room for palm oil plantations, and various animal species are endangered due to the industry’s chevalier.
Palm oil is found in various goods that both vegans and non-vegans consume daily.
What is the Origin of Palm Oil?
Palm oil is produced on palm oil plantations from oil palm plants. Indonesia and Malaysia account for most of the world’s palm oil crops.
Palm oil is derived from oil palm plants, as the name implies. Plantations are where oil palm plants are planted (which is where much of the controversy around palm oil begins.)
Palm fruits are produced by oil palm plants, and it is from these fruits that crude palm oil is derived. It’s frequently processed further to make veggie oil or other palm oil products. Palm fruit is reddish in color, and crude palm oil is reddish in color.
As you can see, palm oil is made entirely from the fruit of oil palm trees; thus, there are no animal products.
However, when it comes to production, palm oil frequently encounters difficulties. Many vegans will turn down this otherwise healthful oil due to poor environmental practices, uncertain production methods, and the impact on the natural world.
What Foods have Palm Oil in Them?
Bread, cookies, sweets, crisps, margarine, vegan cheese, ice cream, quick dishes, and chocolate, including palm oil.
It’s problematic vegetable oil to avoid because it may be utilized to create a variety of textures. If you eat processed goods, whether vegan or non-vegan, you’re probably eating palm oil, and your consumption contributes to environmental degradation and species extinction. As a result, some vegans refuse to consume palm oil, claiming that anyone who does is not vegan.
Why aren’t vegans allowed to consume palm oil?
Palm oil extraction is linked to deforestation in Africa, Asia, America, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Palm oil extraction necessitates clearing enormous sections of land to allow for the growth of African oil palm trees, which destroys parts of the rainforest and makes the natural habitat of various animal species uninhabitable.
Veganism is defined as “a way of life that tries to avoid, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing, or any other reason,” according to the Vegan Society. Because palm oil extraction is tied to animal exploitation and cruelty to generate a food source, many vegans claim that consuming it is not vegan.
What Distinguishes Sustainable Palm Oil from Non-Sustainable Palm Oil?
Palm oil must be certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, or RSPO, to be considered sustainable.
They have a set of criteria that palm oil producers must follow to be certified as sustainable. Among them are:
- Transparency commitment
- Observance of all relevant laws and regulations
- Long-term economic and financial viability commitment
- Growers and millers using suitable best practices
- Conservation of natural resources and biodiversity, as well as environmental responsibility
- Employees, as well as persons and communities impacted by growers and mills, are given due consideration.
- Planting new trees in a responsible manner
- Continuous development commitment in significant areas of activity.
What are the Environmental Effects of Palm Oil?
Humans harvest palm oil from the fruits of African oil palm trees, which are grown in large expanses of tropical rainforest. Many endangered animals’ habitats are destroyed, and conservationists working to protect orangutans, tigers, bears, and elephants are concerned about this.
Palm oil development has also pushed many forest dwellers to relocate. Plantation owners and palm-oil growers value the land so much that they would often evict animals and humans from their natural habitats to cultivate it.
Rainforests play a vital role in the global ecology. They help manage the water cycle, stabilize our climate, offer medicine and food, protect against floods, prevent droughts, and support indigenous people.
The rainforest produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen, which is vitally crucial for survival.
Is Palm Oil Beneficial to your Health? Which Goods Include Palm Oil?
Fresh palm oil is said to have several health benefits, including lowering blood pressure, avoiding vitamin A deficiency, cancer, aging, and treating malaria.
Palm oil and palm kernel oil are widely used in cosmetics, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, food service, animal feed, and biofuel. The most often used palm oil, on the other hand, is refined and so poses health hazards.
Significant components of processed palm oil have been linked to cancer in studies. Palm oil also has significant fat content.
What is the Purpose of Palm Oil?
Palm oil is most commonly used as a vegetable oil substitute, but it may also be utilized for vegan cheese to packaging and packaged meals. In fact, it’s now found in more than half of all packaged goods.
Palm oil has a low production cost, making it one of the most cost-effective crops available. Palm oil trees can be grown all year, making the harvesting season long and profitable. For this reason, many businesses are drawn to using this oil. In fact, most projections indicate that demand for this oil will double over the next ten years and then quadruple by 2050 due to its widespread use.
It is not only inexpensive to grow, but its yield is significantly more prolific than soy, sunflower, and other oil replacements. The tree’s kernels, fruit, and many other parts may all be used, making it a highly profitable venture in many ways.
Palm oil has several advantages of its own. Palm oil provides numerous health benefits when consumed in its natural state. It has been shown to help with blood pressure, supply vitamin A, prevent cancer, and alleviate the symptoms of malaria. It has numerous health benefits, making it an excellent vegetable oil substitute.
Unfortunately, much of the oil isn’t sold in its original state, and many of its processed versions are unhealthy. They may contain additives and preservatives that devalue their original healthy designation. Depending on the additives or preservatives used, cause they to be removed from the vegan list. Yikes.
While the oil is made from plants and has health advantages, it is frequently utilized in unhealthy ways. These health benefits are abundant when palm oil is unprocessed; however, most palm oil is heavily processed for your table or menu item. It can be found in various processed foods and is even employed in animal feed items. This may encourage many vegans to reconsider supporting this oil or including it in their dinner tables or recipe collections.
Because it is a versatile oil, it can be found in beauty items, biofuel, pharmaceuticals, and the list. Palm oil is widely used in various products due to its low cost of manufacture. However, while the financial cost of manufacturing is modest, the environmental cost of producing palm oil can be substantial due to the harmful impact on the ecosystem.
How to Stay Away from Palm Oil?
A quick glance at the label will generally reveal whether or not something contains palm oil. However, palm oil can be found in various items, including cooking oil, packaging, and ice cream. So it may take a little more digging to figure out if a product contains palm oil.
Palm oil and palm oil products may also be known by the following names:
Palm olein, palm stearin, palm fruit oil, palm kernel oil, palmitate, glyceryl stearate, stearic acid, Elaeis guineensis, palmate.
Palm oil can be processed in various ways, so researching before plunging into a new product is usually a brilliant idea.
On the plus side, a roundtable on sustainable palm cultivation has been established in response to public outcry over palm oil extraction and its severe side effects. This forum on sustainable palm oil has developed a sustainable palm oil certification process and certified sustainable palm oil output. So now it’s as simple as checking the label to find sustainable palm oil! Sustainable palm oil accreditation examines all elements of palm oil production, cultivation, and even harvesting labor procedures.
The accreditation is recognized by both food and agriculture organizations and ensures that the oil is harvested, grown, and produced cruelty-free. By ensuring that palm oil palms are rotated with other plant-based crops, the soil is replenished with the nutrients needed to reuse the same plot numerous times, rather than depleting the land’s resources and moving on to a new plot, which would require cutting additional forest land. Many people believe that sustainable palm oil in the future.
Palm Oil is Vegan, But Why it is Boycotted?
Because the palm oil industry is so damaging, many vegans choose to avoid it. When it comes to environmental problems and the harmful impact of massive plantations with little consideration for the native fauna displaced, producers typically take a devil-may-care mentality. It is also a significant contributor to worldwide deforestation, resulting in the loss or diminution of critical natural habitats for endangered species such as orangutans.
In addition to animal welfare difficulties, palm oil production is associated with labor troubles, exploitation, and massive greenhouse gas emission. Many producers fail to address or fix this, which is regrettable because there are alternatives to greed-driven industrial practices.
What are the Other Alternatives of Palm Oil?
Palm oil can be replaced with the following alternatives:
- soybean
- rapeseed
- coconut
- jatropha
jojobaAlthough their production has fewer adverse environmental consequences, these oils still have sustainability and price issues than palm oil.
Palm oil is less expensive to produce, making it the world’s most popular edible oil. However, the cost of its use is borne by the ecosystem it destroys and the creatures who live there.
Palm Oil: Vegan Friendly or Not?
When it comes to palm oil, we’ve gone one way and then the other, and there’s no clear conclusion. On the one hand, it is vegan-friendly because it is composed entirely of plants and does not contain any animal products. It is also a significant and growing sector in the imperfect world that supports many families, and it may be less harmful in specific ways than other intensive crops.
On the other hand, existing industrial processes are producing significant issues in various micro and macro ways. We feel that information is more important than conversion. As a result, when it comes to this complicated situation, your judgment should be founded on your own particular ideas and ethical compass.
Many say that boycotting palm oil isn’t the best way to go and that a combination of measures is required to achieve more sustainable, animal-friendly (and thus vegan-friendly) production. Campaigning for stricter RSPO norms and accreditation criteria seems like a good idea. Similarly, avoiding non-RSPO palm oil and putting pressure on large multinational manufacturers will likely lead to more sustainable business practices.
The lack of awareness is always the first hurdle to overcome in such situations, and palm oil has cleared that hurdle. Hopefully, a solution to this challenging problem will be found soon. Palm oil, on the other hand, should not be a severe worry for vegans. There are many more straightforward and more transparent methods to aid animals and live a vegan lifestyle, and we hope to be able to supply you with all of the information and assistance you require.
Conclusion
Sustainable palm oil is a clear yes, as its policies around sustainable practices protect the environment, humans, and animals. However, depending on how you define veganism and vegan lifestyles, unsustainable or unregulated palm oil may be a no in your book. However, you now have all of the data and information you require. So now it’s up to you to decide whether palm oil will appear on your vegan plate anytime soon or if you’ll “take a palm” against it, as many people are saying.
