Stuff: The case against palm oil

A backgrounder on palm oil put together by the Stuff news website following moves by Cadbury to stop using palm oil as a substitute for cocoa butter.

An excerpt: (Read in full here)

“Conservation advocates say its production is responsible for intensive deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia, leading to the slaughter of around 50 endangered orangutans a week and making Indonesia the world’s third highest man-made carbon emitter, according to Greenpeace.

“As bad as the move to palm oil and subsequent negative publicity was for Cadbury, some conservation advocates say it has highlighted their cause.

“Auckland Zoo has been campaigning against the use of unsustainable palm oil since 2002, ridding their premises of almost all products containing palm oil and attempting to educate the public about which products contained the ingredient.