Cadbury dumps palm oil after consumer protests
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.comAugust 17, 2009
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The candy-maker substituted palm oil and other vegetable fat for cocoa butter earlier this year. The company cited cost savings for the decision, but the move triggered outcry from environmental groups who blame palm oil production for destruction of rainforests across Indonesia and Malaysia, key habitat for orangutans and other endangered species. Concerns that Cadbury chocolate could be imperiling orangutans led the Auckland Zoo and others to ban Cadbury products. Meanwhile consumers swamped the company with letters and petitions protesting its use of palm oil.
 Oil palm plantation and rainforest in Costa Rica. |
"At the time, we genuinely believed we were making the right decision, for the right reasons," said Oldham, noting that Cadbury was using only palm oil certified as sustainable. "But we got it wrong. Now we're putting things right as soon as we possibly can and hope Kiwis will forgive us."
Oldham said palm oil will be phased out of Cadbury milk chocolate products in "a few weeks."
Certified palm oil
 Deforestation for a new oil palm plantation in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). Lush aims to use anti-palm oil sentiments as a marketing strategy for increasing sales of its own products and extending its brand. Instead of palm oil, the company is using oils from sunflower, rapeseed, and coconut — crops with substantially lower oil yields than palm, and in the case of rapeseed, a similarly questionable environmental performance. |
Companies that have pledged to use only sources of palm oil that have been independently verified and certified to meet environmental and social sustainability criteria now are left to question whether these efforts will be enough to win over consumers in markets where such concerns factor into buying decisions.
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