Trying to avoid palm oil in the products you buy? It could be harder than you think
CBC
It's one of the most controversial vegetable oils on the planet, so what's palm oil doing in your deodorant?
That's exactly what eco-conscious consumer Sheila O'Reilly wanted to find out when she called up makers of some popular consumer products.
Palm oil is ecologically problematic and has been linked by the World Wildlife Fund, among several others, to deforestation and other environmental abuses. And those concerns are front and centre for O'Reilly when she is shopping for groceries and other goods.
"If there is palm oil listed, I don't buy it," the Guelph, Ont., resident said in an interview with CBC's Marketplace.
But Canada's labelling laws are anything but clear, so finding out what's in some of your favourite products isn't easy.
"It's really tricky. It's a bit of a minefield," said Adria Vasil, author of the Ecoholic book series and writer for Corporate Knights, a sustainable economy magazine.
Marketplace's latest investigation has found it's not always possible for consumers to find out whether or not palm oil is in their products, and in many cases, companies refused to disclose this information.
In food products, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency requires palm oil or one of its hundreds of derivatives to be clearly labelled.
That's not the case when it comes to other consumer goods, including personal care and cleaning products.
"There is zero requirement to tell you that it's palm oil," said Vasil.
Some commonly used palm oil-derived ingredients include glycerin, sodium lauryl sulfate and stearyl alcohol.
To make things more confusing, these ingredients could also potentially be derived from coconut oil, soybean oil or rapeseed oil, among others.
"If you are coming to the store, expecting to walk through here and just make informed choices by looking at the ingredients and staying away from palm … good luck," said Vasil.
That lack of transparency in labelling doesn't sit well with O'Reilly, who wants to avoid palm oil in all its many forms.