Dear Migros Palm oil and its impact on the environment has been an issue in my family for some time. At first we thought it was in Nutella. We were almost desperate to find an alternative. The next shocking discovery we made was on the sweets shelf. Almost all of them contain palm oil. Even the ones labeled organic. And it goes on! The oil is also in soy cream and cake batter... I don't understand the world anymore. Why can't you at least do without it in products developed by Migros? Palm oil is extremely harmful to our planet because rainforest is cleared for it. I don't think anyone wants to be responsible for this when they buy a product, and Migros could create a clear market advantage for itself if it actively took action against palm oil.
You can do it without palm oil, here is another good example:
Lindt attacks Nutella - with a spread without palm oil The Lindt cream does not contain palm oil. Nutella has recently come under fire because the Italians use the controversial additive in their recipe.
Of course you can do without palm fats if you want to. In the past, the food industry always managed without palm fats and oils, but the food industry in particular, unfortunately including Migros companies, is extremely happy to pull the wool over consumers' eyes, stretching and "optimizing" products in order to produce them as cheaply as possible, and palm fats fit in well with this concept because they are cheap. But in addition to the ecological and social aspects, palm fats are also about our health, because palm fats contain a high proportion of saturated fatty acids, and from this point of view alone palm fat is unhealthy. In addition, when heated to high temperatures, so-called fatty acid esters such as glycidyl and 3-MCPD are formed, which is why the EU has classified palm fats as harmful to health. These substances have caused cancer in animal experiments.
So if we take the ecological, social and health aspects together, these palm fats/oils are basically broadband problem creators. What I find alarming, however, is that at Migros, sales are not only more important than social or ecological issues, no, they are apparently even more important than the health of customers.
Edit: And yet the solution to the problem would be so simple: Migros could once again use local butter, which can be obtained by simply churning milk or cream, it would be healthier, it would support local farmers who would not have to clear entire forests, the transportation routes would be much shorter and no social problems would be created in the countries of origin of the palm oil. Palm oil must first be hardened using highly toxic chemicals in complicated processes if palm fat is to be produced from it (this also applies to normal vegetable margarine), and this would also be eliminated. In many cases, palm oil could be replaced by domestic rapeseed oil, which is also much more valuable than palm oil in terms of its composition. This would probably cost a little more and Migros would have to reduce its margin while keeping prices the same, which would not be so problematic in a real cooperative, because maximizing profits is not really a priority there.
Guest
7 years ago
The truth is that Migros can't beat Coop when it comes to organic, ecological and sustainable behavior. Coop has a significantly larger proportion of organic products, supports small and micro producers (in our store you can buy products from the village butcher three villages away), invests tens of millions in social projects every year, e.g. in Africa (has already received awards for this), supports our mountain population/economy and has already converted entire product groups in its own range to organic, so there are no more conventional products. These are just a few examples. But because Migros prefers to invest millions in marketing campaigns about how ecological, social or sustainable it is, many people believe that Migros is a leader in this area. Many people probably also believe this because Coop does not make a big deal of its social commitment. I also believe that this is why Coop has overtaken Migros and will continue to do so, that Coop will grow more than Migros with its strange behavior towards its customers. They also rely on untruths; Migros recently announced in the media that Chinese retailers had a special rate with Swiss Post, which of course is not true. Recently, a Migros manager said in an interview that Migros is run as a cooperative, which is also not true, the cooperative members have no say at all in Migros, it basically has nothing to do with a cooperative.
You did a great job of getting it across. Thank you
Guest
7 years ago
great article...thank you...now consumers just have to become aware of all this so that they pay attention when shopping and avoid products with palm oil!
Guest
7 years ago
@jakarta, that's why I would also be in favor of a statutory declaration obligation, very conspicuously in red, thick lettering on the front of the packaging. That would probably make manufacturers act very quickly. Just imagine how high Migros' daily consumption of palm oil is, based on the stated annual consumption of 17,000 tons: 46 tons every day of the year, which doesn't quite fit in with Migros' supposedly ecological approach.
I don't think it will happen overnight. But a reduction would be worth striving for.
I think many people are simply riding the palm oil wave. All of a sudden everyone is vegan. Then everyone is against cheap items (see 1 franc weeks) and when CH goods are available, many are surprised at the expensive prices. Then everyone rides the palm oil wave and then there's the protein wave and skyr addicts who hardly do any sport and just want to ride any wave. PS. The -the product has too much plastic wave...there's also ....
I'm not saying that all commentators here are like that, but the topic is also often used to simply vent. Initiated and motivated by some NGO that is hardly any better. This is especially true of Greenpeace.
And because of the Nutella Lindt issue. Everyone is talking about palm oil. How are the workers on the hazelnut plantations paid and how are they treated... how or what is used so as not to jeopardize the harvest.
Again, it shows that the palm oil issue is much better received by people than, for example, the hazelnuts themselves should also be critically scrutinized...
Guest
7 years ago
the fact is that the rainforest (also our green lung) is being torched for palm oil and the habitat of the animals is also being destroyed... a huge mess and for what???? so that we can profit from it here...it is simply not acceptable that we simply consume thoughtlessly at the expense of the poor and destroy the vital rainforest.... you are absolutely right that the working conditions on other plantations are also inhumane (see also in spain and italy).
