The Palm Oil Controversy

Most of us don’t consider palm oil to be a kitchen staple, but you’ll find it as an ingredient in most packaged foods. This little ingredient sounds innocent enough, but the Rainforest Action Network is working to make sure people understand the issues with unsustainable palm oil productions. To get the facts about palm oil, visit www.RAN.org/the_problem_with_palm_oil

Here’s the pledge your Co-op has taken:
Mississippi Market Co-op carries a wide variety of high quality products which are wholesome, supportive of local producers, help build a sustainable food distribution system, produced in an environmentally sound and socially conscious manner, and available at a fair price.

We were alarmed to discover the social and environmental impacts of palm oil production, including the destruction of tropical rainforest ecosystems around the world. While the pure palm oil that we carry is produced sustainably, palm oil is an ingredient in many packaged foods and its source can be difficult, if not impossible, to determine.

Mississippi Market encourages shoppers concerned about the rainforests, peat swamps and preservation of biodiversity to contact agribusiness companies (such as Cargill) and ask them to use their influence in the palm oil industry to require standards to protect the rainforests and respect the prior and informed consent of the communities impacted by palm oil expansion. We also encourage shoppers to contact their favorite natural foods companies to ask them to source their palm oil from suppliers that use sustainable production methods.

Here’s an example letter you can use to contact food companies.

Want to learn more?
Here’s a link to a film called Green. It’s a powerful documentary about tropical rainforest destruction from big Agribusiness. This links to the free online version. It is 40 min. long and incredibly moving.

For more information on rainforest preservation and RAN’s campaign to reform agribusiness, visit http://ran.org/campaigns/rainforest_agribusiness