Palm oil consumption in Europe would be curbed when new rules start next year compelling food makers to label their products with the ingredient if used, the Dutch product board warned.
In Malaysia, a government official who declined to be named said his country will draft a new labelling strategy to reassure consumers in the EU, a major importing region.
“The strategy is to differentiate ourselves from Indonesian palm oil where most of the forest clearing is happening. In Malaysia, on the other hand, we are running out of land,” the official said.
Because it is solid at room temperature, palm oil has become an irreplaceable ingredient in a variety of products from chocolate bars and spreads to biscuits, ice cream and even soap.
But a wave of negative campaigning has targeted its cultivation, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia - a natural habitat for the orangutan - where activists say rain forests have been destroyed to make room for palm oil plantations.
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