Don't Palm Us Off

18 August 2009

This week Zoos Victoria launched a community advocacy campaign called "Don't Palm Us Off".

In short, the Zoos Victoria campaign involves obtaining signatures to take to FSANZ (Food Standards) to ask that legislation be changed to require that where palm oil exists in our food products, it is labelled as an ingredient. Currently, palm oil is hidden in the ingredients list as "vegetable oil" so we don't know that we are consuming it, and we are also unwittingly contributing to the extinction of orang-utans.

For more information about the campaign, go to Zoos Victoria's website at www.zoo.org.au/palmoil or visit the facebook page at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/335785/46296736?m=1a240be5. The website has an excellent short YouTube video to watch, and directions for completing the advocacy card/petition (your name, postcode and email address) are on the right of the page under "Tell FSANZ YOU want the choice".

With Cadbury this week bowing to pressure and removing palm oil from its milk chocolate in Australia and NZ, we know that consumers can bring about change. Let's keep the momentum going.

If you would like more information about what products do not contain palm oil, based on work done by volunteers with BOS (Borneo Orangutan Survival) please check out the list on our homepage under "Helping you buy responsibly - Palm oil free alternatives".

Thanks for your contribution to this important campaign.

15 July 2010
Why should we protect the orangutan? It is a frequently asked question when lay-people, including businesspeople, discuss the need to protect orangutans, Asia's only great ape, which is greatly endangered. Read Article »

23 June 2010
If an orangutan blows a raspberry, smacks you on the side of your body or gives you a nip on the arm, don't worry. Read Article »

21 June 2010
Some New Zealand food companies are being slippery about whether they use palm oil, according to a Green Party survey.

6 June 2010
Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS) Australia and its Indonesian counterpart have secured a 112,000 hectare site in Kalimantan, Indonesia for the release of rehabilitated orangutans.

27 May 2010
Indonesia will introduce a two-year moratorium on deforestation to help tackle climate change, the country's president has said. Read Article »

28 May 2010
United States congressman Earl Blumenauer has called on the Australian Government to legislate to ban illegal timber imports into Australia.

27 May 2010
Cash-strapped Indonesia remains committed to protection of its rainforests as part of the global initiative to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) Plus scheme, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says.

27 May 2010
Indonesia will honor palm oil companies' existing contract despite its pledge to suspend new concessions to clear the nation's natural forests and peat lands for two years, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says.