43 Facts About Palm oil

Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp of the fruit of the oil palms.

The Palm oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel.

Use of palm oil has attracted the concern of environmental groups due to deforestation in the tropics where palms are grown, and has been cited as a factor in social problems due to allegations of human rights violations among growers.

However, very little palm oil is certified through the organization, and some groups have criticized it as greenwashing.

In 2018, a report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature acknowledged that palm oil is much more efficient than other oils in terms of land and water usage, however deforestation causes more biodiversity loss than switching to other oils.

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Palm oil became a highly sought-after commodity by British traders for use as an industrial lubricant for machinery during Britain's Industrial Revolution.

Palm oil formed the basis of soap products, such as Lever Brothers' "Sunlight" soap, and the American Palmolive brand.

Palm oil is naturally reddish in color because of a high beta-carotene content.

However, crude red palm oil that has been refined, neutralized, bleached and deodorized, a common commodity called RBD palm oil, does not contain carotenoids.

Palm oil is a common cooking ingredient in the tropical belt of Africa, Southeast Asia and parts of Brazil.

Since the mid-1990s, red palm oil has been cold-pressed from the fruit of the oil palm and bottled for use as a cooking oil, in addition to other uses such as being blended into mayonnaise and vegetable oil.

Red palm oil contains sterols, vitamin E, and carotenoids such as alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and lycopene.

Highly saturated nature of palm oil renders it solid at room temperature in temperate regions, making it a cheap substitute for butter or hydrogenated vegetable oils in uses where solid fat is desirable, such as the making of pastry dough and baked goods.

Palm oil is sometimes used as a minor ingredient in calf milk replacer.

Palm oil is pervasively used in personal care and cleaning products, and it provides the foaming agent in nearly every soap, shampoo, or detergent.

Palm oil is used to produce both methyl ester and hydrodeoxygenated biodiesel.

Palm oil biodiesel is often blended with other fuels to create palm oil biodiesel blends.

Palm oil biodiesel meets the European EN 14214 standard for biodiesels.

Additionally, palm oil that has been used to fry foods can be converted into methyl esters for biodiesel.

The used cooking Palm oil is chemically treated to create a biodiesel similar to petroleum diesel.

In 2016, palm oil prices jumped to a four-year high days after Trump's election victory in the US.

Thailand's Department of Internal Trade usually sets the price of crude palm oil and refined palm oil Thai farmers have a relatively low yield compared to those in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Palm oil is native to the wetlands of western Africa, and south Benin already hosts many palm plantations.

Since 1993 a new hybrid variety of cold-tolerant, high-yielding oil palm has been promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in western Kenya.

Regions with fast growing palm oil production have experienced significant violations of indigenous land rights, influxes of illegal immigrant labor and labor practices, and other alleged related human rights violations.

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Palm oil industry has had both positive and negative impacts on workers, indigenous peoples and residents of palm oil-producing communities.

Palm oil production provides employment opportunities, and has been shown to improve infrastructure, social services and reduce poverty.

In countries such as Guatemala, palm oil plantation have significant pressure on local police forces, leading to local police to disregard land claims, going as far as using force to break up protests, and even murdering local leaders.

Palm oil has garnered criticism from environmentalists due to the environmental importance of where it is grown.

Palm oil is the most sustainable vegetable oil in terms of yield, requiring one-ninth of land used by other vegetable oil crops.

However, palm oil cultivation has been criticized for its impact on the natural environment, including deforestation, loss of natural habitats, and greenhouse gas emissions which have threatened critically endangered species, such as the orangutan and Sumatran tiger.

Environmental groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth oppose the use of palm oil biofuels, claiming that the deforestation caused by oil palm plantations is more damaging for the climate than the benefits gained by switching to biofuel and using the palms as carbon sinks.

The IUCN advocates better practices in the palm oil industry, including the prevention of plantations from expanding into forested regions and creating a demand for certified and sustainable palm oil products.

Production of palm oil that complies with voluntary sustainability standards is growing at a faster rate than conventional production.

Previously, palm oil could be listed as "vegetable fat" or "vegetable oil" on food labels in the European Union .

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil was established in 2004 following concerns raised by non-governmental organizations about environmental impacts resulting from palm oil production.

GreenPalm oil is one of the retailers executing the book and claim supply chain and trading programme.

The buyer of the oil is allowed to use the RSPO and the GreenPalm label for sustainable palm oil on their products.

Palm oil has an especially high concentration of saturated fat, specifically the 16-carbon saturated fatty acid, palmitic acid, to which it gives its name.

Unrefined palm oil is a significant source of tocotrienol, part of the vitamin E family.

Red palm oil is rich in carotenes, such as alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lycopene, which give it a characteristic dark red color.

However, palm oil that has been refined, bleached and deodorized from crude palm oil does not contain carotenes.

Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up in Everything?and Endangered the World.