Sorry I have been quiet on the blog front, I aim to sort that out over the next few weeks, lots of new recipes and things to share…but first….I had one of those moments today that you just can’t get out of your head. In my local Sainsburys, trying to innocently buy some dried fruit I was disgusted to find that every single option in their store contained palm oil as an added ingredient. Every one!
As you will see in my letter to them below, I try to avoid palm oil wherever possible. I am aware that some companies use a generic term of vegetable oil to hide this fact, which is also why I try to avoid that too, but to list it, quite proudly, on every packet really did get my hackles up!
(by the way, there are lots of websites with information about this issue on, some really quite harrowing reading. Greenpeace have a good, factual site about the dangers of deforestation: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/forests/palm-oil and if you want to read something a bit more “in your face” http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/palm-oil.php may be the place to go)
Anyway, I have sent them this email, I will be sure to let you know when/if they respond:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I shop in your Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre Store, Gillingham, Kent fairly regularly and am always pleased with the range of fresh fruit and vegetables, vegetarian/vegan friendly foods, fair trade goods and other less mainstream ingredients that I can buy there. However today I was bitterly disappointed. I needed to buy some dried fruit: raisins/sultana’s etc. but when I went to chose, every single packet in your store contained palm oil as an added ingredient. Every single option, from your basics range to the “taste the difference” option and everything in between.
I am aware that most dried fruits do have a touch of oil on them to stop them from sticking together, but to use palm oil, in EVERY product really is a poor show.
As you will undoubtedly be aware (or maybe not based on my findings today) the palm oil industry is causing unfathomable damage to the world’s forests and wildlife as hectares of land are claimed for the planting of palm oil seedlings. It has been widely reported that orangutans especially are in terrible danger and being harmed and killed every day by the plantation workers trying to keep the wildlife away from the crops. There are suggestions that 50,000 orangutans have been killed in just the last decade over this.
Not to mention the fact that palm oil is inherently bad for you, containing very high levels of saturated fat which can promote heart disease, high blood pressure and other serious health risks.
I guess, if as a company, you will not reduce the amount of palm oil you have in your products, the sad truth is there is not much anyone can do you stop you. But I don’t wish to purchase goods that include that ingredient. I care about my health and that of my family and I also care about our planet and the creatures we share it with, and I for one would appreciate the opportunity to be able to purchase goods that do not contribute to the mind blowing devastation of our rain forests and our wildlife. Please, give us a choice.
I look forward to hearing from you in due course.
Yours faithfully
Victoria Sigston
