On 6 March GallonDaily reported on WWF’s sustainable palm oil campaign (search for palm oil in search box above). Yesterday another UK ngo, the Rainforest Foundation UK, launched a much more aggressive campaign, initially against chocolate products (think Easter Eggs) that it considers a threat to the world’s rainforests, and to the indigenous peoples inhabiting them, because of unsustainable palm oil production. The report, Appetite for Destruction? Are You Eating the Rainforest?, prepared in partnership with Ethical Consumer magazine, is published in the environment section of The Guardian newspaper.

Please note that chocolate products in the Canadian and US markets may have different formulations from those sold in the UK so results from this study may not apply on this continent. However, the RFUK report urges consumers not to buy some products from such well-known brands as Mars, Kraft (Cadbury and Terry’s), Ferrerro, Lindt, and Guylian because of their unsustainable palm oil content. Using a traffic light system for rankings, a popular approach in Europe, RFUK puts a caution (yellow light – read the company’s policy carefully to understand the impact of your purchase) on some chocolate products from such manufacturers as Nestle, again because of unsustainable palm oil content.

For The Guardian article Easter Eggs Rated by Palm Oil Use(remember this is a UK study and may not apply in North America) visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/25/easter-eggs-palm-oil?INTCMP=SRCH

For direct access to the RFUK data visit http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/palm-oil-database