Dear Migipedia,
I am disappointed... It has been well known for some time that palm oil causes huge problems. This year in particular is a great example of the problems that palm oil production in Indonesia has caused for the region.
Unfortunately, there are more and more products containing palm oil, which in our opinion makes little sense, except that it is (unfortunately) a cheap raw material. In the past, all products were available without palm oil. But are you looking for a margarine without palm oil? Breakfast cereals without palm oil? Our children love Alnatura flakes, sorry we won't be buying any more. Today I discovered that Vermicelle contains palm oil. Why the hell does it have to contain palm oil?
I'm calling for mandatory labeling of products containing palm oil and for Migros to stop selling palm oil products. We have been avoiding products that contain palm oil for some time now (unfortunately there aren't even any substitutes that are palm oil-free).
What was it like with Generation M?
All replies (178)
Hello@Karin_Migros,
thank you for your message. We will take a look at the declarations in the future. Yesterday, at least, my mother brought a lemon tart with the telling declaration "vegetable fats and oils"...
I quote the NZZ of 19.3.2013 on the subject of ecological balance "The Federal Council must work internationally to combat the environmentally harmful effects of palm oil production. On Tuesday, the Council of States, as the second chamber, approved a motion to this effect without discussion and referred it to the Federal Council. The Council agreed that the intensive cultivation of plantations for palm oil production has a miserable ecological balance. Tropical forests were falling victim to these monocultures in droves. As a human foodstuff, the oil is not particularly healthy either, said Didier Berberat (sp. Neuchâtel) for the Commission. It could easily be replaced with domestic rapeseed oil or butter. The intensive production of palm oil requires a lot of deforestation and the use of chemicals. "
I think it's a shame that Migros doesn't prefer domestic production here and, above all, refrain from using these questionable products. I also doubt whether the eco-balance of palm oil (End2End incl. transportation etc.) really leads to a better eco-balance than, for example, regionally produced rapeseed or sunflower oil. Migros also has products that can easily be produced without palm oil. This is also the case, for example, with the spaetzli mentioned above, where vegetable spaetzli or egg spaetzli are produced with rapeseed or sunflower oil.
So it is possible if you really want to... and let's be honest! Palm oil is primarily used because it is cheap.
Guest
Hello@spot4u
Palm oil performs better in life cycle assessments than other oils, provided that the plantations are established exclusively on previously cleared and unused fallow land, as the oil palm has a high productivity per unit area. If other vegetable oils such as rapeseed oil were used, around twice as much land would be needed to produce the same amount of oil. This in turn would further increase the pressure on the rainforest and other natural areas worthy of protection. Find out more on the WWF website.
Animal fats also have a significantly worse impact on the environment, climate and health compared to vegetable oils and fats. This is why Migros has switched to physically sustainable palm oil. The RSPO label ensures that oil palms are not grown on slash-and-burn land.
As already mentioned, Migros is not prepared to abandon palm oil altogether. However, Migros constantly reviews its recipes and analyzes which fat makes the most sense in a recipe. In addition to ecological and health aspects, nutritional aspects and customer wishes are also taken into account.
It is true that palm oil is one of the cheapest oils. However, it is not possible to replace the amount of palm oil currently consumed in Switzerland with domestic rapeseed or sunflower oil. In addition, there are the above-mentioned ecological, health and nutritional aspects and customer preferences that must be taken into account when making a decision. It is therefore a question of weighing up various aspects and there is no single best solution.
Kind regards
Tanja
Hello
@Tanja_Migros
@spot4u
@Faerystorm
Point 1:
A substitute for palm oil is possible. I hope Migros is committed to this:
More in this video:
http://www.3sat.de/mediathek/?mode=play&obj=57006
A fungus should do the trick
A yeast provides the substitute for palm oil
The yeast Metschnikowia pulcherrima is to help replace ecologically critical palm oil, hope British researchers led by chemist Dr. Chris Chuck.
http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=/nano/umwelt/148758/index.html
Point 2:
RSPO, or Migros palm oil, is not sustainable enough:
Environmentalists criticize the current criteria for the certificate as inadequate. According to Greenpeace Germany, 39 percent of the fires that raged in the province of Riau in Sumatra between January and June 2013 were in areas belonging to RSPO members.
http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=/nano/glossar/palmoel.html
Greenpeace's main criticisms of the RSPO
http://www.greenpeace.org/switzerland/de/Themen/Wald/Probleme/palmoel/rspo/
Guest
Hello@Loxiran
Migros is also interested in new findings and technologies. As soon as such processes are ready for industrial production, we will examine the possible applications and recipe adjustments with our suppliers. It is important to us that alternatives to palm oil bring about a real improvement in terms of sustainability and that we can offer our customers products of impeccable quality.
As mentioned above, Migros knows the plantations from which it sources its palm oil and does not tolerate any slash-and-burn practices by its business partners. We also have no evidence of slash-and-burn clearing on plantations from which we source palm oil.
Kind regards
Tanja
@Tanja_Migros: And the plantations that now supply Migros have of course always been there and were never cleared by fire...
It is unbelievable how stubborn and arrogant Migros is about palm oil. There is NO sustainable palm oil, palm oil is bad for the environment and you should finally realize that. We don't want palm oil!
Guest
The use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers poisons the groundwater, rivers and indirectly the local population. Palm oil plantations (like other monocultures) are a problem for the preservation of biodiversity.
Guest
Hello
@ Tanja_Migros and Karin_Migros
Either you have both been swindled or you are simply not allowed to publish where Migros' palm oil really comes from. That's understandable - after all, your job is at stake. But please be so kind and at least publish the life cycle assessments quoted, where the palm oil is presented so well.
If the palm oil used by Migros really only came from fallow land and non-peat fields, then it would be so-called "organic palm oil". However, Migros, just like all other RSPO members, cannot guarantee the safety of its sources and suppliers because, strangely enough, there is no mention of organic palm oil in the ingredients. Migros and every other major food producer would exploit such an "organic feint" for marketing purposes if they were 100% sure that the raw material came from such sources. It is well known that people are prepared to pay more for organic lies. Organic palm oil is quite expensive, not even Migros could afford it, given the approximately 6000 tons that are needed annually. Since Migros does not advertise organic palm oil, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that they simply buy the cheapest oil and, if need be, give their customers the RSPO bear.
What do you actually mean by "already cleared and previously unused fallow land"? I hope these are not the areas of land that the Americans sprayed with defoliants and torched with napalm. I can't imagine that there can be unused wasteland in the middle of the jungle from which the jungle is (deliberately) keeping away. Are these perhaps beaches, roads or the roofs of high-rise buildings? Or is the jungle itself interpreted as an "unused wasteland"?
Wiki says that between 30 and 76% of Cambodia's land is forested. An evergreen mountain forest grows at altitudes above 700m with a cool, humid climate. The vegetation on the high-precipitation western slopes of the mountains is characterized by tropical rainforest. Lower plants such as smaller trees, bushes and palms can be found in the undergrowth. The lowlands, when not used for agriculture (rice cultivation), are covered by monsoon and dry forests, which lose their foliage in the dry season. In regions where flood forests and swampy savannahs dominate, the soils are nutrient-poor and dry. Mangrove forests can be found on the coast.
Dear Karin_Migros, as you can read in the following article, Migros does not actually source its palm oil for food from Cambodia, but buys from importers who in turn source RSPO-certified palm oil. This can come from anywhere, including Malaysia or Borneo, where the cute orangutans are being robbed of their habitat. The only thing that is sustainable is the extermination of rare animal species.
http://g eneration-m.migros.ch/generation-m/de/labels-und-produkte/nachhaltiges-sortiment/palmoel.html?gclid=CLP1meDem8sCFdW4Gwodo10Elw
There is nothing about Greepeace in the article, only about WWF. In fact, Greenpeace describes the RSPO concept as greenwashing.
Imagine that the WWF is the initiator and supporter of the RSPO scam.
https:// www.wwf.ch/de/aktuell/medien/?1751/WWF-Palmoumll-Rating-Zu-viele-Firmen-handeln-mit-Zertifikaten
The WWF gives Läckerli Huus, among others, zero points because it does not disclose the palm oil it uses to the WWF. However, Migros, which is a founding member of the RSPO, sells Basler Läckerli. Is Migros supporting a palm oil offender? What about the promise to Hanna? Is it okay for Migros to make a profit from products that deliberately have nothing to do with the RSPO? Is the RSPO really as great as Migros and the WWF claim?
Wiki says: "Members of the Roundtable (RSPO) are environmental organizations and other NGOs as well as companies and institutions from the palm oil value chain, including plantation operators, traders and industrial buyers of palm oil, but also investors and banks.
The companies that profit most from cheap palm oil have invented their own certificate, the RSPO. Wow, how trustworthy, the lobby certifies itself.
Read the "Criticism" section in particular:
https:// de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundtable_on_Sustainable_Palm_Oil
and also read
https:// de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Pakt_mit_dem_Panda
which takes a closer look at the WWF.
We promise Hanna that we will only use palm oil from sustainable cultivation by 2015. RSPO is by no means what it promises and Migros has therefore lied to little Hanna. That is not right!
Greetings from a sad Migi piglet
Not only the cute orangutans (meaning forest dwellers) are threatened by this, but also the indigenous people of Malaysia/Borneo, the Orang Asli