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.
Uraca The app really wants to know a lot and I'm supposed to reveal a bit too much about myself. What a shame! An app like this is brilliant, but I'm not really going to "expose" myself for it.
Does palm oil always have to be labeled/listed? Then I can assume that if it's not on there, it doesn't contain it?
Hello @schnofeli, I understand that you have the feeling that we are not changing anything at all. However, changes are progressing slowly, as many specialist departments are involved and the taste experience for consumers should remain more or less the same with a replacement. Changes are indeed underway - stay tuned!
By the way: Did you know that product development can easily take 2 years? Even if you take an express approach, it can take a good 9 months. Then add to that the time it takes to determine the potential demand. Yes, that sounds like a lot of time.
@Traberli, hello. We do not have a list of products that do not contain palm oil. However, palm oil is always listed on the ingredients list if it is contained in the product.
I wish you all a good start to the week. Best regards, Sina
Guest
6 years ago
Dear Sina
I think that's a pretty cheap excuse, Migros uses 6 times more palm oil/fats than Coop! But what makes me wonder: when Migros introduced these palm oils, it didn't take 2 years or more to switch to palm oil! But the other way around takes ages.
@Traberli: If you are looking for palm oil/fat-free products, I recommend other retailers than Migros, because there you can find palm fat in almost all foods containing oil or fat.
@Traberli, that's what I meant. I didn't enter any details about myself in this APP. No idea if they have changed the APP. If there is NO palm oil in it, it is usually written in large letters on the product. That's the case in Germany anyway and I think that's great.
Palm oil has many different names to deceive the consumer, I think that's a cheeky thing to do
@M-Infoline Sina, that's probably the cheapest and standard excuse there is. The taste, I'm not laughing. It's all about money and nothing else. Did people have NO taste in the past when there was no palm oil?
If you wanted to, you could do without many products containing palm oil. Such as in waffles, sugar which is on the Grättiman, pastry, puff pastry, margarine and so much more.
The changes go on for a long time, I laugh too. It seemed to me like introducing a whole host of palm oil products to the market overnight. People didn't even notice the so-called different taste and vice versa. Simply introduce it without making a big fuss, as was the case with palm oil. You didn't have to worry about how the taste would be received.
Don't always think about money, think about the environment and health.
Be a role model and a pioneer, that would be great.
Your slogan "Migros belongs to the people" There's not much left of it.
Hello @Uraca, here is some additional information on the palm oil issue.
Palm oil is one of the few vegetable fats that is already solid at room and refrigerator temperature (in contrast to olive oil, rapeseed oil, etc.). Artificial hardening is therefore not necessary. This is an advantage in production, as incomplete hardening produces undesirable trans fatty acids. It can also be heated to high temperatures. For this reason, manufacturers like to use palm oil for products where firmness is desired. Replacing palm oil with other vegetable oils or fats not only has a decisive influence on the consistency, but also on the shelf life and mouthfeel of a product.
What's more, palm oil has been contained in various products for many years, it just didn't have to be declared by name. In 2014, the food law changed. After a transitional period of 2 years, all fats, including palm oil, have had to be declared by name in the product declaration since 2016. Previously, it was sufficient to list palm oil as "vegetable oil" in the list of ingredients.
Always talking everything up. It used to work without it. I find that changes are apparently underway. Sorry, I'll believe it when I see it. You could also make a short announcement here. And not another stupid excuse.
Guest
6 years ago
Yes, that's nothing new, but it was contained in far fewer products. This argument is simply ridiculous. Migros must finally take its responsibility seriously and avoid palm oil in its products wherever possible. Why does gelling sugar etc. have to contain palm oil? I repeat myself: Consumers wake up, help protect the rainforest and avoid buying products with palm oil whenever possible (unfortunately this crap will soon be everywhere.) Migros Coop, the major distributor, take your responsibility seriously!!!!!!!
Guest
5 years ago
Federwolke
7 years ago
6 months ago is good... This has been an issue here for years and Migros has always played it down. At first it was said that Migros only used a small amount of palm oil and that you could choose whether you wanted to buy products with or without palm oil. As more and more users drew attention to more and more products (including organic and without alternatives in Migros), the strategy was changed and we were made to believe that we could not do without palm oil (on the flimsiest of grounds) - even though we had previously managed without palm oil for decades. When user criticism continued, the myth of "sustainable" palm oil was born. And when this sustainability was also increasingly questioned and refuted, the relevant topics were locked and no more replies were made to the new ones. People, don't be fooled: There is only one reason for using palm oil: it's cheap. Cheap if you take into account the environmental destruction it causes and the suspected health risks. Only vegans are actually happy about this mess, because it can (also) replace animal fats. But I stick to my guns: (local!) butter and not palm fat belongs in a "tradition" cookie or a "Grosi" cake! As Migros is showing no understanding, people are now baking more themselves - or buying elsewhere. Unfortunately, people who are not interested in this problem and just want to buy as cheaply as possible are in the majority and so nothing is likely to change for a long time yet.
Hi Federwolke I absolutely agree with you. With one small comment: I'm vegan and I'm terribly bothered by the fact that palm oil is everywhere. It's not enough to eat sustainably, avoid meat, boycott the dairy industry and consume palm oil, which, whether "sustainable", "organic" or "fair trade", ALWAYS destroys rainforests and is highly questionable. It is even very important to me and my family, who are completely vegan, not to consume palm oil. The bad thing is that it's not even always declared. I recently bought a hand cream from Weleda in the belief that I had made the right decision. Far from it. When I scanned the product at home with the "Code Check" app, it was clear: it also contains "organic" palm oil. I wrote to the company and immediately received an email saying how hard they were trying to use sustainable palm oil. It's the same with "Alnatura". Try to find a sweet spread (Nutella substitute) without palm oil! You'll go mad. I haven't found a single one from Alnatura that was without palm oil. Explanation: if they did without palm oil, they would have to use hydrogenated fats, which in turn would be detrimental to health as they lead to the formation of trans fatty acids. De facto correct. But the idea is fundamentally wrong. On the one hand, palm oil is also suspected of contributing to the development of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer, on the other hand, there are alternatives, e.g. from "naturkostbar", which use neither hydrogenated fats nor palm oil and I found another, slightly cheaper "Nutella", which was also OK in terms of price. But the giants like Migros and Coop simply don't care. Recently, the few products where palm oil has been omitted, e.g. in ready-made dough, have been labeled in large letters: without palm oil. So the greenwashing continues. The customer is put off and led to believe that if it says organic, it contains something good. Far from it. It costs consumers a lot of time and nerves, and sometimes a little more money, to find real alternatives, but it's worth it. In any case, we are no longer going along with this game and are calling on the giants to finally do away with cheap, highly questionable palm oil altogether and thus make a real contribution to active environmental protection.
