Clear Labels, Not Forests Campaign Success – Palm Oil No Longer to be a Hidden Ingredient

The EU has adopted a new law which will require the labelling of specific vegetable oils on food products. This means that palm oil – the unsustainable production of which is cited as a significant cause of deforestation and biodiversity loss – will no longer be a ‘hidden’ ingredient. This change comes as a result of the Clear Labels, Not Forests campaign launched in March by a coalition of conservation organisations, including Elephant Family.

The new EU regulation is now published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will come into force in 2015, requiring all vegetable oils to be labelled individually. As it stands palm oil is typically labelled under the generic term 'vegetable oil'. Mandatory labelling of palm oil will finally allow shoppers to make informed choices about what they buy, and push food manufacturers and retailers to play their role in supporting the transformation of the industry towards certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO). Currently approximately 10% of the global palm oil supply is certified sustainable, but less than half of available CSPO has been purchased during the past year*. Increased uptake of CSPO will send strong signals down the supply chain that companies and consumers demand sustainably-produced palm oil. This is crucial in order to convince more palm oil companies to change how they operate, and will in turn help protect countless species including elephants, orangutans, tigers, and rhinos, whose habitat is otherwise still being converted for palm oil production.

The response to the Clear Labels, Not Forests campaign was phenomenal. Thousands of people spoke up to show that they do not want to consume forest-destroying palm oil. This success creates the opportunity for us to move to the second phase of the campaign, urging companies and manufacturers to behave more responsibly and take steps towards sustainability – they can no longer hide behind their labels. This next phase will be announced soon, and in the meantime Elephant Family thanks all of its supporters that took part in the campaign.

*Based on an average of monthly purchases

The 'Clear Labels, Not Forests' coalition are: Elephant Family, Sumatran Orangutan Society, Orangutan Foundation, Save the Rhino, Ape Alliance, The Jane Goodall Institute UK,and the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria