Senate passes palm oil labelling bill
The Senate has passed an amendment to the Food Act requiring that products containing palm oil be explicitly labelled, rather than described as ‘vegetable oil’.
The bill was passed by Coalition votes, and driven by Greens senator Rachael Siewert and Independent senator Nick Xenophon, both of whom have been vocal in their campaigns on the subject of palm oil.
Most of the world’s supply of palm oil, an extremely common ingredient in foods and food additives, is produced in Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is common practice to clearfell forest for plantations. Zoos Victoria reports that clearfelling results in the deaths of up to 50 orangutans per week.
The issue came to prominence last year, after a grisly ad from Greenpeace featured orangutan fingers in a Kit Kat wrapper.
Senator Xenophon also emphasised the consumer health aspect of the labelling, saying that Australians consume 10kg of palm oil a year without knowing it, and that while other products labelled as ‘vegetable oil’ contain as little as 2% saturated fat, palm oil is 50% saturated fat.
While the bill was rejected last week by a Senate committee, the alliance between the Opposition and the two senators was enough to pass the bill, which will likely pass in the House of Representatives if the Coalition-Greens alliance holds.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council decried the bill, saying the cost of changing a single label would be $10,000 to $19,000, and that food and grocery manufacturers were already under pressure from a ‘perfect storm’ of rising input costs.
“Food labels should be about ensuring consumers have important product information relating to health, nutrition and safety. From a health perspective, it’s more important for consumers to know how much saturated fat is in a product rather than where the saturated fat is sourced,” said a release from the AFGC.
Malaysia also expressed “grave concern”, with the Malaysian Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok describing the bill as “discriminatory”.
Dompok said the bill seeks to encourage “the use of certified sustainable palm oil in order to promote the protection of wildlife habitat”.
“In this context, Malaysia is of the view that labeling palm oil purely from the perspective of sustainable production is discriminatory,” he told BERNAMA, the Malaysian National News Agency.
“In addition, competing vegetable oils are not required to be labeled.”
“It is clearly evident that facts and figures provided to the Senate Community Affairs Legislative Committee have been clearly ignored,” Dompok said.
“It is with great regret and disappointment that the Australian Senate has not accorded the due attention contributed by the oil palm industry in Malaysia and the sustainable practices adopted.”
Despite the protests of Malaysia, I believe I am entitled to know the content and certification of products in the foods I consume; it is important for my health and wellbeing. I applaud the Australian Government for this decision. Now I would like all products with GM ingredients also labelled as we do not yet know the effects of these products on the human body (this will take at least two generations).
@Craig Coulson.
The trouble with the Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labeling – Palm Oil) Bill is that it discriminates against palm oil. Why is palm oil singled out and other edible oils exempted from this bill?
If health is an issue, surely the tons of scientific studies showing palm oil to be heart friendly would exempt palm oil too. That is what the Senate’s own Community Affairs Legislative Committee found when they heard representations from stakeholders – hard facts and not hype!
The bill is just an anti-competition bill disguised as a health and environmental issue. What the Australian Senate could be trying to protect is their rapeseed crop which cannot compete with palm oil on a level playing field.
I am all for transparency in food labelling. I am also all for sustainable and eco-friendly growing of cash crops, such as the palm oil industry ought to be.
However, the ministers mentioned seem to imply that they need to expose palm oil in products becasue it contains a high % of saturated fat, and is therefore unhealthy. Rubbish! If they stopped listening to myopic ‘health’ organisations and read some actual recent research into fats (during the last 20 years), they would realise that exactly the opposite is true. We have been lied to since the 1950s, because of faulty and biased research that says polyunsaturated (P/U) oils are heart healthy, and that saturated fat is bad for you. Saturated fats such as from coconut oil, palm oil, butter, cream, nuts and eggs contain essential nutrients and perform vital functions within our bodies and brains. They also cause ‘satiety’ (full feeling) that prevents overeating. Fully saturated fats (eg coconut oil) never go rancid. On the other hand, industrially processed P/U oils, and P/U oils used for cooking contain free radicals that are the real health scare. Fake saturated fats (hydrogenated oils AKA margarine) are worse, but of course they are cheap to make.
The idea that ‘eating fat makes you fat’ is as much a myth, as that cigarette smoking is somehow good for you, and its time it was publically busted. Proof: native Pacific islanders, native Inuit, and some African tribes get (or used to get) 80% or more of their calories from saturated fat, (coconut, fish, blubber, animal fat) and they are (or used to be) healthy and have no history of heart disease (until they started eating ‘western’ food). And just as with cigarettes, market share not public health is the main concern of some.
If i can mention a website that I am in no way affiliated with, or get kickbacks from, that reports real and unbiased research on fats: http://www.coconutoil.com. Or, do your own research. If you are afraid to eat fat, you are not alone. if you can accept that you were raised on myths, you will find the truth out there.
(please withhold email address)