THE TRUTH ABOUT
NUTELLA
The world is burning. The fashion industry
causes pollution, straws kill turtles and
Nutella causes deforestation.
Yes, you read that right. Nutella causes
deforestation. At least that is what the
company Ferrero, which owns famous
brands such as Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, is
being accused of. If you spend a lot
of time on Facebook, you may have
already seen some posts saying you need
to stop eating the sweet treat. RIGHT NOW!
The reason why? Palm oil. The palm oil tree,
mostly found in Indonesia and Malesia,
contains a fruit from which the edible
vegetable oil can be retrieved.
Since the spread is so immensely popular,
Nutella has a high demand on palm oil.
In order to make plantations for palm trees,
deforestation is needed. This often goes
along with severe forest fires. And that
causes more CO2 to be released in the
air, which ultimately results in the climate
changing more rapidly. And those are a
lot of consequences for a jar of chocolate.
But how does the chocolate-lover know this
is true? First of all, the oil that Ferrero uses
to make Nutella is 100% certified by the
RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil).
Next to that, they agreed with
Greenpeace to be even more transparent on
the supply chain of palm oil. This is an essential
part of sustainable sourcing and supply chain
responsibility. Even though Ferrero does care
about the environment, it doesn’t mean we can
just grab a jar and a spoon and finish the thing in
one go. That’s bad for your health. But all jokes
aside, palm oil isn’t only used in the much-loved
chocolate spread.
You can also find the oil in shampoos,
conditioners, deodorants, cookies, sauces and
many more products. And that’s the thing that is
worrying. Though Ferrero became visible as a
leader of sustainable palm oil in Europe, not
every brand is following this example yet.
What does that mean for us? Should we
start avoiding palm oil? The answer is no,
and that’s not only because of the fact that
it is hard to avoid. The alternatives also have
their downsides.
By stating all these facts, Nutella seems
anything but sustainable. Although many
articles refer to Nutella as the bad guy, they
actually do everything in their power to
harvest palm oil as sustainably as
possible. On their website they even claim
that the Nutella palm oil is the safest palm oil
out there.
Luckily, this doesn’t mean we
can’t do anything. Just be aware of the amount
of products containing palm oil you are buying.
Find and try some local stuff. Greenpeace
encourages you to ask your favorite brands to
come up with some alternatives. This way we can
really make a difference.
At the end,
the customer is always king.
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