Intro

• Palm oil and palm kernel oil permeate over 50% consumer products in the grocery store— how did we get here, and what is the impact of this industry?
  • Plant is semi-spontaneous in regeneration
• Part 1 will look at origins of industry, spanning back two centuries, from POV of "colonizer"
• Part 2 will look at it from the other side

Part 1

• Development of palm oil trade tied tightly to "scramble for Africa," slave trade, etc.
• Commodified in soap starting with Lever (→ Unilever), margarine
  • One scientist defected to P&G and helped them make Crisco!
• Again, closely intertwined with atrocities in the Congo, etc.
• Also spread the oil palm to Southeast Asia, exploitation happened there as well
  • Unilever's plantation people imported thousands of weevils from Africa to Malaysia once they found out the insect was the palm's main pollinator → increase in yield
• Palm oil began replacing many other animal-based oils (butter, lard) in both industrial and home cooking
• Used widely in oleo-chemicals (in place of petro-chemicals)

Part 2

• Land-grabs in Indonesia = state-sponsored; plantation owners profited and benefited from anti-Communist massacres in the 60s-70s?
• Deforestation/land-clearing to plant oil palms → so many endangered species, poaching in what little rainforest remains
• Currently: labor conditions are horrendous
  • Extremely low (if any) wages, exposure to toxic pesticides (organophosphates) and other dangerous conditions (electrocution, etc.) with little healthcare
  • Child labor, sexual assault, etc.
  • Palm oil produced under such conditions makes its way into consumer goods in many companies we interact with— Hershey's, P&G, Pepsico, etc.
• Murder and intimidation of union workers and strikers
• India = one of the largest importers of palm oil; contributes to obesity and diabetes epidemics
  • Both palm oil and palm kernel oil have ideal properties for frying and things like chocolate, respectively (in terms of taste, saturation, etc.)
  • Emphasis and use of palm oil takes place of healthier options— both in agricultural space and actual food people are eating
  • Cheaper than other plant/vegetable oils (sunflower, rapeseed, etc.)
  • Used in place of dairy products like ghee, etc., as dairy prices rise (often not advertised clearly)
  • Prevalent in food that's locally produced and from international brands— which use palm oil in countries like India but not in the US
• Similar trends in Mexico (obesity, cardiovascular disease)
• Use of palm oil as biofuel lead to surge in production in Indonesia → more clear-cutting
  • Everywhere became fair game for palm plantations
  • Not necessarily carbon-neutral if clearing rainforest, or esp peat land, to grow the oil palms for biofuels

Part 3

• Efforts in place to try to have food labels be more transparent when "tropical" vegetable oils are in use, more info on health and environmental implications
  • Resistance from food companies, plantation companies
• Many certification schemes are not credible (rely on or influenced heavily by the companies they are supposed to regulate