Environment

The One Product You Should Know About in Your Nutella

January 15th 2017

Nutella is a tasty delicacy for many people.

But an image on Reddit highlights a potential problem with Nutella that fans may not realize exists.

User "MrFlow" posted the following image of Nutella's ingredients to show that Nutella contains palm oil, among other things, prompting some commenters to call out the production of palm oil, which is the leading cause of Indonesia's deforestation problem.

Nutella ingredientsReddit - reddit.com

Tens of thousands of orangutans have been killed or hurt over the past 20 years by palm oil plantations that have been placed in forests, according to The Huffington Post.

"[Extinction] will be the sad reality if forest continues to be destroyed to promote the development of palm oil," Robert Shumaker, the Indianapolis Zoo’s vice president of conservation and life sciences, told The Huffington Post.

OrangutanFlickr/Tony Hisgett - flickr.com

Palm oil has also received negative media attention for a report claiming it may cause cancer.

The European Food Safety Authority reported that palm oil might be harmful to consumers at certain temperatures.

Nutella's manufacturer Ferrero said that the company's use of palm oil in the hazelnut product was safe.

"Making Nutella without palm oil would produce an inferior substitute for the real product, it would be a step backward," purchasing manager Vincenzo Tapella told Reuters. "The palm oil used by Ferrero is safe because it comes from freshly squeezed fruits and is processed at controlled temperatures."

Nutella only uses certified sustainable palm oil plantations, Tapella told Reuters.

Such plantations must demonstrate environmental responsibility, among seven other standards, according to Green Palm Sustainability:

Sustainable Palm OilGreen Palm Sustainability - greenpalm.org

"It is good that Ferrero has clarified that the palm oil they use is safe and sustainable," Yusof Basiron, chief executive of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, told Reuters.

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