The Labelling Issue (3,6,9)
Currently, there are over 170 different names that Palm Oil can be labelled as! Lots of people want to choose Palm Oil free products, but this is
becoming virtually impossible. Legally, Palm Oil does not have to be labelled, because no-one in NZ is allergic to it.
The list below consists of a number of different ways in which you can detect and avoid palm oil when shopping:
1. Vegetable Oil is the most common name that Palm Oil is hidden under. If the product is made in Asia, and contains vegetable oil, this means it almost definitely contains Palm Oil in some shape or form.
2. Corporate giants in the food world (Nestle, Unilever, etc...) who sell pre-packaged snack foods often use Palm Oil as an ingredient in their goods.
3. If a foods saturated fat content is over 40% of its total fat content, you can almost guarantee it has Palm Oil in it.
4. Ingredients with the word 'Palm' in them are either Palm Oil itself or are derivitaves of the Oil Palm fruit.
5. Pasties and confectionary which are produced by Select or no-name brands will often contain Palm Oil. (cakes, donuts, muffins, chocolate etc...)
6. If you are not sure if a product contains Palm Oil, ring the company and ask.
7. Look for products that contain 100% alternative vegetable oil (canola, sunflower, etc...)
30 Names Palm Oil Can Be Labelled Under
-Sodium Laureth Sulfate (in almost everything that foams) ^
-Sodium Lauryl Sulfate ^
-Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS) ^
-Palm Oil Kernel #
-Palm Fruit Oil #
-Glyceryl Stearate #
-Stearic Acid #
-Elaeis Guineensis #
-Palmitic Acid #
-Palm Stearine #
-Palmitoyl oxostearamide #
-Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3 #
-Steareth -2 *
-Steareth -20 *
-Sodium Kernelate #
-Sodium Palm Kernelate #
-Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate *
-Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate ^
-Hyrated Palm Glycerides #
-Sodium Isostearoyl Lactylaye ^
-Cetyl Palmitate #
-Octyl Palmitate #
-Cetyl Alcohol ^
-Palmityl Alchohol #
#These ingredients are definitely palm oil or derived from palm oil.
* These ingredients are often derived from palm oil, but could be derived from other vegetable oils.
^ These ingredients are either derived from palm oil or coconut oil.