Why is palm oil bad and what should we choose instead?

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What is palm oil?

The oil palm is not a 21st century novelty. It was already used in ancient times for cooking oil, fuel, and cosmetic production. Yet it became increasingly popular at the end of the 20th century, when major corporations realized that the oil palm was unbeatable in efficiency. Its efficiency lies in three key factors:

• it requires very little arable land
• it can be used almost entirely
• its consistency allows most industries to use it.

Other vegetable oils, such as rapeseed and soya, are much healthier, but their production is far more expensive. In an ideal environment, the oil palm can be 25 times more productive than soya. From a business perspective, this is a rather tempting opportunity.

But it's not just cost-effectiveness that favors palm oil, but also its properties, as palm oil makes cookies crispy, keeps peanut butter from sliding off your breakfast bread, and keeps your lipstick in place even under a mask.

Although from the food technology perspective mentioned above it is the most advantageous vegetable oil, it has catastrophic environmental and health impacts. Borneo lost 90% of its rainforests, while Sumatra lost 97% in 36 years. Deforestation primarily affects orangutans, with 150,000 individuals falling victim to intentionally triggered brush fires. As natural habitats shrink, biodiversity is declining rapidly, and in 1-2 decades, the loss of organisms that fulfill ecological functions will also be felt in the region. The problem doesn't just affect countries with oil palms, but everyone. The numbers are enormous and frightening. But they are not irreversible. We show you what you can do for a more sustainable future.

What can you do against the destructive effects of palm oil?

The other solution is up to us. It's already clear that it's impossible to eliminate the oil palm from our lives with current possibilities. It's everywhere, and unfortunately it will be for a while. The solution can lie in reducing demand. A large percentage of produced food ends up in the trash. In Hungary, 1.8 million tons of food goes into the trash every year, which means that along with the food, we're throwing palm oil away too. That palm oil for which an entire orangutan family may have lost their home. Part of the solution can be not throwing away food either in restaurants or in our households. Munch helps with this! When you shop on Munch, you not only reduce domestic food waste, but also reduce the demand for palm oil, which can save forests, animal families, and the Earth.

Further tips

Get informed: Palm oil is used in many cosmetics, foods, and cleaning products, and moreover, it can be listed under many different names. So the first step is definitely to get informed. Here's a short list of cosmetic ingredients that are often made from palm oil: palmolein, glyceryl stearate, palm kernel oil, palmolein, palmate, sodium palmate, glyceryl stearate, sodium laureth sulphate.

Less driving: If you drive, instead of using biodiesel, try to use your car less, choose public transport or a bike.

Watch for the label: Several organizations have been formed to classify individual products and label those that meet the criteria with a palm oil-free or sustainably sourced palm oil label. Although there has been much debate about these organizations' operations and credibility, it's certain that products with the label are somewhat better than products containing palm oil produced through conventional farming.