The Palm Oil Responses - Sanex

Woop Woop!
Sanex DOES NOT! Contain palm oil! and IS NOT! animal tested! :D

Subject: Your recent e-mail to Colgate-Palmolive

Dear Mrs. Bell,

Thank you for contacting us with your question.  Your interest in our Company and our products is greatly appreciated.  We are happy to have the opportunity to assist you.

All our Sanex products do not contain Palm Oil and are no tested on animals.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us and for your interest in our Company and its products.

Yours sincerely

The Palm Oil Responses - Imperial Leather

I contacted Imperial leather to ask about their palm oil use, this was their response:

Hi-thanks for your email regarding our use of palm oil.

PZ Cussons are users of palm oil and its derivatives, in the manufacture of soap and other personal care products.  We endeavour to purchase these materials from suppliers who are either members of the RSPO or themselves source palm oils from plantations cultivated and managed in a sustainable manner, taking into consideration the need to conserve forest areas and protect the environment.

In addition, PZ Cussons in Africa are developing local sources of supply by purchase of, and subsequent replanting/improved management of long established existing palm plantations.

We hope this addresses your concern and provides reassurance of our environmentally responsible approach to this matter.

Regards

The Palm Oil Responses - Tesco

Tesco, the huge supermarket chain that is slowly but surely taking over the World was very quick to respons to my questions. In fact in took them the grand total of ten minutes.
This is what they had to say:

Thank you for your email

We are working to ensure that the palm oil we use in our products comes from sustainable sources. We have been full members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) since 2006 and are in a separate coalition of over 50 companies promoting the use of sustainable palm oil.

We have issued all of our own brand suppliers to the UK business with a timeline and code of practice. We have also held training courses for all Tesco’s Technical Managers, so they can help suppliers work towards our goal. From 2012 we have only been accepting products using palm oil from an RSPO-certified system. By 2015 all the palm oil in our own brand products will come from certified sustainable sources.

The main challenge is converting the volumes of certified sustainable palm oil available into the derivatives we use as ingredients for our products. We are working with our suppliers AAK and New Britain Palm to overcome critical sticking points in the derivatives supply chain, to improve the capacity for certified sustainable palm oil derivatives coming to market.

We have made the most progress on palm oil in our UK business and are working to understand the barriers to purchasing sustainable palm oil in our non-UK markets.

In order to develop the right conditions for a strong sustainable palm oil market, we believe that global consumer goods companies must work together. Tesco co-chairs (with Unilever) the sustainability pillar of the Consumer Goods Forum.

In November 2010, the group agreed a resolution pledging to mobilise resources within the respective businesses to help achieve zero net deforestation by 2020. The companies will achieve this both by individual company initiatives and by working collectively in partnership with governments and NGOs.

The Palm Oil Responses - Unilever

Ok, well, when I contacted Vasaline to see if their products contained palm oil/palm oil derivatives, I was suprised to find that like Nestle, they are part of a massive network of brands. Here is a list of those brands which come under the Unilever umbrella:
(The countries in brackets show brands predominantly in those countries)
Personal Care Products
Vasaline
Dove
Sure
Timotei
Impulse
Lux
Lynx
Sunsilk
Andrelon
Aviance cosmetics
Badedas
Brisk
Brut
Brylcreem
Citra
Clear
Close-up
Cream silk
Degree
Dusch Das
Fair and lovely
FDS
Gessy (Brazil)
Good Morning (Egypt)
Just for me
Lever 2000
Lifebuoy
Clinic
Matey
Mist (Egypt)
Motions
Noxzema
Origins
Organics
Pears
Pepsodent
Ponds
Prodent
Radox
Rexona
Sedal
Signal
Simple
Sunsilk
Soft & Beautiful
SR
St Ives
TBC
Tigi
Thermosilk
Toni & Guy
Tresemme
Ultrex
Vibrance
VO5


Food and Drink
Flora
PG Tips
Carte D'or
Heartbrand
Knorr
Lipton
Ben & Jerrys
Wall's
Amora
Alsa
Ades or Adez
Amino (Poland)
Annapurna (India)
Best Foods
BiFi (Netherlands, Germany)
Blueband
Bovril
Breyers
Brooke Bond
Bru (India)
Brummel & Brown
Bushells (Australia, New Zealand)
Calve
Chicken Tonight
Choysa (Australia, New Zealand)
Conimex (Netherlands)
Coleman's
Continental
Country Crock
Darko (Bulgaria)
Delma (Poland)
Du Darfst (Germany)
Elmlea
Fanacoa (Argentina)
Fruco
Fudgsical
I can't believe it's not butter
Imperial Margarine
Jif/Cif
Kasia (Poland)
Kecap Bango (Indonesia)
Kissan (India, Pakistan)
Klondike
Lady's Choice (Phillipines, Malaysia)
Lan-Choo (Australia, New Zealand)
Lao Cai
Lyons
Lizano sauce (Costa Rica)
Maille (France)
Maizena
Marmite
Mccollins (Peru)
Mrs Filbert's (USA)
Paddle Pop
Pfanni
Peperami
Phase
Planta
Popsicle
Pot Noodle
Promise
Ragu
Rama
Royal (Phillipines)
Royco (Indonesia)
Red Rose Tea (Canada)
Sana (Turkey)
Saga (Poland)
Sariwangi (Indonesia)
Scottish Blend
Slim Fast
Slotts (Sweden)
Stork
Streets (New Zealand, Australia)
Tortex (Poland)
Turun Sinappi (Finland, Sweden)
Unox
Vaqueiro
Wheel
Wish-bone salad dressing

Just a quick note on the ice-cream products. Unilever is the Worlds largest ice-cream manufacturer. Maybe it's time to buy a ice-cream maker! 



Household Cleaning products
Domestos
Surf
Ala (Argentina)
Biotex
Brilhante (Brazil)
Cif
Comfort
Minerva (Brazil)
Neutral
Omo (South America, Norway)
Quix
Q-Tips
Persil
Skip
Sun
Viso (Indonesia, Vietnam)
Vim

As you see, there are LOADS!
This is the disappointing response I received today:

Hello from Unilever

Dear Steph,

Thank you for your recent enquiry about the use of palm oil in our products.

Palm oil is widely used in food and personal care products, and contributes to the economic development of the producing countries, as well as to the diets of millions of people around the world. Demand for palm oil is only expected to increase, however it is recognised that there are environmental issues around the expansion to eco-sensitive areas.

Since 2002, Unilever has been working with the conservation group WWF, plantation owners and other commercial users to devise standards for sustainable production. This is being done through the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The principal objective of the RSPO is to promote the growth and use of sustainable palm oil through co-operation within the supply chain and open dialogue with stakeholders.

I hope this has reassured you about the use of palm oil in our products, and I will pass your comments on to our Product Development team. We welcome all consumer feedback - both positive and negative - as it helps us to improve our products and policies, so thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Kind Regards

The Palm Oil Responses - Original Source

I have contacted Original Source to ask whether any of their products contain palm oil or palm oil fractions and guess what? THEY DO NOT! :D Finally!
Here is their short but sweet response.

http://www.originalsource.co.uk/

Hi, thanks for your email

No, we don't use palm oil or palm oil fractions in our products.

Regards

Nina


I'm sure you will agree this is amazing news so treat yourself to some lovely guilt free shower stuff! 

The Palm Oil Responses - Cadburys

Ok, loads of people love Cadburys chocolate, but how much palm oil do they use? Well here is the reponse I got from them.

Thank you for your recent email.

The production of palm oil can have significant and lasting environmental and social impacts. Addressing these impacts in a constructive way requires cooperation from producers (including farmers, cooperatives and post-harvest processors), the food industry, governments and civil society. Mondelēz International is committed to working with all of these stakeholders to develop a viable supply of sustainable palm oil.
We do not buy crude palm oil - we buy fats derived from palm oil. Mondelēz International purchases less than 0.6% of worldwide production. We are concerned about the potential long-term environmental and social impacts of tropical deforestation. This is why we participate in the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to develop and enforce standards for sustainable palm oil production.

The company is also purchasing GreenPalm certificates and RSPO-segregated certified sustainable palm oil to cover part of our use of palm oil. In 2011, this constitutes approximately 50% of Mondelēz International's  global palm oil use (up from more 25% in 2010) and the company is looking to increase these volumes going forward as sustainable palm oil becomes more available.  We expect to be able to cover 100 percent of our purchases once the supply of certified palm oil accounts for about one-third of the world’s total supply. We expect our suppliers to reach this goal by 2015. We are working with the World Wildlife Fund to evaluate options.
For Cadbury Dairy Milk products, we’re covering all of its palm oil use with GreenPalm certificates and also purchasing some segregated palm oil in the UK and elsewhere. In November 2011, we were pleased that WWF scored Cadbury highly (9/9) as part of their Palm Oil Buyers Scorecard based on our current policies and plans for the future.

I do hope this answers your email and I thank you for taking time to contact us.
Kind regards
Christine Baldwin
Consumer Relations Administrator

The Palm Oil Responses - Nestle

Nestle have a massive amount of products so I have included a list so you can see what products I am talking about.

Bottled Water
Nestle pure life

Breakfast Cereals
Cheerios
Honey Cheerios
Chocolatey Cheerios
Shredded wheat
Shredded wheat bitesize
Honey Nut Shredded wheat
Shredded wheat summer fruits
Shredded wheat orchard fruits
Clusters
Shreddies
Frosted Shreddies
Coco shreddies
Honey Shreddies
Curiously cinnamon
Almond Oats & more
Nesquik cereal
Cookie crisp
Golden nuggets

Chocolate and Confectionary
Aero
Yorkie
Smarties
Milkybar
Munchies
Crunch
Walnut Whip
Caramac
Lion Bar
Animal Bar
Kit Kat
Blue Riband
Breakaway
Drifter
Toffee Crisp
Rowntree's Randoms
Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles
Rowntree's Randoms Pick and Mix
Rowntree's Sour Pastilles
Rowntree's Fruit Gums
Rowntree's tutty frutties
Rowntree's Jelly Tots
Rowntree's Jelly Aliens
Rowntree's Very Berry Jellies
Polo mints

Coffee
Nescafe Everyday
Nescafe Decaff
Nescafe Cafe Menu
Nescafe Dolce Gusto
Nescafe Super Premium

Dairy Products
Carnation evaporated milk
Carnation sweetened condensed milk
Carnation Caramel
Carnation extra thick cream
Carnation rice pudding

Drinks
Nesquik

Food
Herta frankfurters range
Maggi So juicy range

Petfood
Purina cat and dog foods

As you can see, Nestle are a massive company, with loads of products. Even I was suprised at some of the things on this list. I contacted them about the palm oil use and this is their response.

 Dear Miss Bell

Thank you very much for your email.

Nestlé views the destruction of tropical rainforests and peatlands in the production of ingredients such as palm oil, as one of the most serious environmental issues facing us today.

In 2010, we made a global commitment to ensure our products do not have a deforestation impact and partnered with The Forest Trust (TFT) to establish Responsible Sourcing Guidelines. These guidelines promote traceability and socially and environmentally sound sourcing practices.

Palm oil is an essential ingredient in many of our products. In the UK, we have already achieved our 2015 target to source 100% RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) certified palm oil. Since January 2012, 70% of the palm oil we use in the UK is traceable back to RSPO certified plantations. The remaining 30%, which consists of more complex derivatives of palm oil that are more difficult to trace through the supply chain, is purchased through the GreenPalm programme.

The GreenPalm programme supports the production of sustainable palm oil through a certificate trading scheme, which is designed to tackle the environmental and social problems created by the production of palm oil by rewarding the growers of RSPO certified palm oil.

Palm oil is not a major raw material in our products; we buy only 0.7 per cent of worldwide production. Nevertheless we are fully conscious of our responsibilities in contributing to effective and sustainable solutions.

Thank you again for taking the trouble to contact us. We are grateful for the interest you have shown in our company.

To reply to this email or if you would like further information, please click here: https://www.econsumeraffairs.com/nestleuk/contactusfollowup.htm?F1=004002573A

Yours sincerely





Sue Tomlinson
Contact Centre Executive
Consumer Services