Suma

Not all products on the Suma website are Palm oil free but a lot are. All of the ingredients are clearly labelled so it's not hard to see which are and which aren't. Here's a link: http://www.suma.coop/

L.A Colors

I use L.A Colors Luscious Wine moisture lipstick. It is my favourite lip-product and I was a little apprehensive to write to them. They got back to me promptly and said that although it does not contain Palm Oil, it does contain a derivative- ethylhexyl palmitate.

A Nestle Encounter

I picked up a Toffee Crumble today and checked the back of the packet expecting to find no clear answer to whether there was palm oil in there but instead it was staring me in the face as simply 'Palm Oil' I don't know if Nestle is now labelling all of their products in this way, but if they are then it's a step in the right direction in my opinion.

The Co-op

I visited the co-op website today to find the FAQ section (I love FAQ's, they save so much time!) and found a very helpful section.
The products that contain palm oil are marked as 'palm oil' so it is very easy to find. It is sourced from certified sustainable sources.

List of Products Known to Contain Palm Oil (Updated With My Own Finds)

I found this list today (accurate as of Feb 2010) I know it's old, but I think it is still by and large true:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8517000/8517093.stm

-Heinz have confirmed to me that their Sponge Puddings do contain '...a small amount of palm oil...' to see some Heinz products that don't contain Palm oil Please see my list under 'Reasons and the Beginning of My List.'

-I was very upset today to find that Tunnock's Caramel Wafers Contain Palm oil. I love those! Yet another  sweet treat off my menu!

- Pink Panther Wafers

- Naked Bodycare

- Nestle Toffee Crumble - I'm devastated by this because it is my most favourite ice-cream

- Jacobs Cracker's

- Ryvita Multi Seed Thins

- Morrisons own brand butter/vegetable oil spread

- Dr. Oetker Frozen Pizzas

- Nakd and Trek bars

- Fabulous Bakin' Boys range

-Peros One World Chewy Cookies - I'm so upset. The options for my lunchtime snack are becoming fewer and fewer! I'll just have to make my own cookies :)

- Kallo organic stock cubes. I am devastated about this.

- Suma handmade soaps

- Cadburys chocolate spread

Nivea

I e-mailed Nivea almost a month ago and it had been so long since I contacted them that I thought they had decided to ignore my inquiry but a few days ago I received a reply; it was very informative and most importantly in my opinion, did not come across as an automated reply.

Essentially they told me that they do use palm oil derivatives in certain products, that it is very hard to track the sustainability of the palm oil source but that they are working within the RSPO for traceable palm oil- (the woman who wrote the e-mail put it much more eloquently than that).

 On the face of it the reply from Nivea is not any different from the others I have received, however, it is. In the last paragraph, the woman writes- 'If there is  particular product you are interested in please advise and we can check the ingredients for you.' No other company has made this offer to me so far. It turns out that there is no need to e-mail them because they actually list palm oil as 'palmitate' rather than some of the more obscure names, so at least their customers can make informed buying decisions.

According to the Corpotations...

For the past two months I have been trying to find out exactly which products that I buy, or that other people are likely to buy, contain Palm Oil by e-mailing them.

According to the UK branch of Kraft, Oreos, Philadelphia, Cadbury's Turkish Delight and Diam Bars do not contain Palm Oil. If this is true then I am extremely happy because I LOVE Oreos and Philadelphia cream cheese but I was loath to post this on The List as I wrote to Cadburys (owned by Kraft) a couple of weeks before I wrote to Kraft and Cadburys told me that all of their chocolate products contained palm oil.

I also e-mailed Colgate Palmolive who told me that Colgate doesn't contain palm oil, but various lists on the internet say that they do. I am going to send another message to them and in the meantime Colgate toothpaste shall be removed from The List.

The List (Products that do not contain palm oil)

Up until about a month ago I thought that I was pretty environmentally aware; I recycle where possible, eat organic and fair-trade and do all I can around the home to save energy without driving my friends and family insane.  I then watched a fantastic documentary called 'Terry Pratchett's Jungle Quest' in which he revisits Borneo after 18 years. I learned that pretty much everything I had been eating, washing with and cleaning with was likely to contain palm oil and that the cultivation of this crop is responsible for the destruction of large swathes of the rainforest to meet the demands of Western suppliers which is growing year on year.

As soon as I found out about this cause I decided to do my little bit and try to reduce my consumption but when I looked on the internet for helpful lists I couldn't find many that were comprehensive or relevant to the UK consumer so I decided to start one myself.

I was surprised to find that many manufacturers who market themselves as environmentally aware use palm oil and are aware of the destructive consequences of the ingredient; as such, the only way to know for sure if something is palm oil free is to contact the manufacturer, as even reading the label will not tell you in plain English what the product contain as there are at least 20 possible names that could be used for the ingredient.

This list of products that do not contain palm oil is by no means comprehensive but I am going to keep adding to it and will hopefully be of some help to those who want to do something about this hidden issue.

A link to a useful page: http://www.palmoilaction.org.au/downloads/palm_oil_free_shopping_list.pdf

Toothpaste

Sensodyne Daily Care
Green People

Chocolate

Lindt and Sprugli bars
Chokolit
Go*Do
Ryelands Milk Chocolate
Milka
Butlers
Green and Blacks organic chocolate
Co-op Fair-trade Chocolate
Divine
Morrisons own brand chocolate mousse

Biscuits and Baked Goods

First Quality Foods (All eg. Ma Baker Giant bar, O bar)
Go-Ahead Crispy slices
Co-operative plain breadsticks
Ryvita Original Crackerbread
Ryvita Wholegrain Crackerbread
Ryvita Mini's
Metcalfe's Skinny Top Popcorn

Breakfast Cereal

Asda own brand cereals (All)

Cosmetics and Body Care 

Sanex
Boots Botanics
Green People
Dr. Hauschka
Skinny Dipper Toiletries (RSPB exclusive)
Lush bar soap
Cien toiletries - (Check the label because some foaming products such as the shaving foam contain Palm Oil. If they do it will be clearly labelled with'Palmitate/palm kernel oil or something similar.)
Eco Lips Lip balms
Green People Eco Lipstick (They have a great range of most make-up products, I shan't list them all here) Here's their site: http://www.greenpeople.co.uk/ 
Inika creme colour for lips and cheeks
Paul Penders Lipstick
Suma clear and simple shampoo and conditioner

Crisps

Walkers
Pipers Crisp Co.

Ready-made Foods

Birdseye Potato Waffles
Heinz Baked Beanz
Heinz Tomato Ketchup
Co-op Garlic and Onion Dip
Ambrosia Creamed Rice
Suma baked beans
OXO stock cubes - surprised to find this but glad!

Baby Food

Heinz Baby Porridge

Butters and Spreads

Meridian Foods - All 
Suma Peanut Butter -  All