Palm oil is not ok!

Palm oil is not ok!

Palm oil. It sounds kind of cool, right? Something about palm trees on a white beach and a clear blue ocean? So why do we never use palm oil in our products at De Kleine Keuken? Because it's not as innocent as it sounds. Palm oil is a very convenient substance. It makes biscuits moist, it's a great additive for margarines, it prevents peanut butter from splitting and is a great replacement for full cream butter. But most of all, it's cheap. So food producers love using this convenient fat in everything, all the time. What they don't tell you, is that it's not very healthy for you, nor is it produced in a sustainable way.

Here are a few reasons why it's quite bad:

Artificial

Palm oil is most often hardened artificially. It's when palm oil is treated so it becomes solid, which is called hydrogenation. Unfortunately, this process creates trans fats and a substance called 3-MCPD. And that's something you don't want to enter your kid's body. Their little tummies can't process trans fats, which then settles in their arteries, causing chronic inflammation and obesity. And 3-MCPD can cause liver damage in small children. So it's best to avoid hydrogenated palm oil. ^{Source: Rijksinstituut voor volksgezondheid en milieu (RIVM).}  

Deforestation

Palm oil can be found in thousands of household products, from toothpaste to Doritos corn chips to dishwashing liquid. Palm oil production is the biggest cause of deforestation in Indonesia. Since 1990, 31 million hectares of forest, an area the size of Germany, has been lost, largely due to palm oil production. ^[2] Deforestation, in turn, impacts the natural habitat of endangered animals, such as orangutans. ^{source: Greenpeace}

Have a good look, it's used in everything: chocolate spreads, peanut butter, baby biscuits, margarine, ice cream. Pay close attention next time you go shopping. If you'd like to know more, you can spend your entire day googling this topic!