NOW 100%
PALM OIL FREE
YOUR CHOICES
CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
You may not think about it when you’re grocery shopping, but you have the power to change the world, simply by the products you choose to buy. This is especially true when it comes to palm oil.
Palm oil is found in roughly 50% of all supermarket products – but you wouldn’t know it. Whilst this hidden ingredient may not directly change your life, the unsustainable production of palm oil is destroying somebody else’s.
To make way for palm oil plantations, rainforests in Southeast Asia are being cleared at a rate equal to 300 football fields every hour to keep up with demand. With this relentless destruction comes the loss of irreplaceable habitat, wildlife endangerment and enormous CO2 emissions.
The choices you make at the checkout can quite literally change this.
THE SWITCH TO
SUNFLOWER OIL
Removing palm oil and all its derivatives from the Darrell Lea range has been no small feat. It’s taken almost two years and the discontinuation of some of our products to make the transition possible.
Having reviewed over 200 different ingredients, we felt sunflower oil was the best substitute from an environmental and product quality perspective.
Also unlike oils such as coconut, sunflower oil doesn’t require a tropical environment in which to grow, therefore isn’t linked to rainforest deforestation.
WHY CAN'T I SEE PALM OIL IN THE INGREDIENTS?
Australian labelling laws don’t require products to specify exactly what oils they contain, so it’s quite tricky to make an informed decision. Instead the term ‘vegetable oil’ is used to disguise the real ingredient, therefore consumers don’t know what they’re consuming.
We have replaced 100% of palm oil with sunflower oil across Darrell Lea branded products. We are currently in the process of replacing our packaging to reflect ‘sunflower oil’ in the ingredients. As you can imagine, replacing millions of individual products all over the country takes time. Our aim is to have all packaging updated by March 2021.
STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?
FAQS
When we say Darrell Lea Makes It Better, we really mean it. We’ve been listening to our customers and know that more ethically sourced ingredients matter, and we couldn’t agree more. Removing palm oil is just one of the many steps we’re taking to create confectionery that is better for our customers and the environment.
After extensive testing we landed on sunflower oil as a replacement. It is the best choice from an environmental, health-related and manufacturing perspective.
Unfortunately, sunflower oil is not a commercial crop yet in Australia. We source our sunflower oil from various parts of the world, mostly from Europe with some from Argentina too.
Every single Darrell Lea product made now is guaranteed 100% Palm Oil Free. Every single product now contains sunflower oil.
Some products have started hitting the shelves. By October every single Darrell Lea product on shelves should be palm oil free.
We are currently in the process of replacing our packaging to reflect ‘sunflower oil’ in the ingredients. As you can imagine, replacing millions of individual products all over the country takes time. Our aim is to have all packaging updated by March 2021.
Don’t worry, we wish this could happen sooner too! The reality is, products on supermarket shelves and in our warehouses need to be sold first before new ones can take their place. Similarly, when we purchase packaging we buy millions
We can assure you we have removed it from the entire Darrell Lea range – that’s about 100 products. Sadly, as part of the process, we had to discontinue our STIX product as it couldn’t be made without palm oil. We don’t like removing products from our range, but in this instance, it was the right thing to do.
We already use 100% sustainably sourced cocoa in all our chocolate products. We pay a premium for our cocoa to help fund sustainability programmes in Ghana.
We are currently reviewing our energy use across manufacturing and looking to transition to fully renewable by 2025. We’re also exploring ways our packaging can be more eco-friendly so that it can be reused and recycled. Both of these are huge projects, and technology continues to change, but we’re committed to make it better.
We were able to remove Palm Oil altogether. For those that can’t, we suggest you look into Sustainable Palm Oil alternatives with RSPO as a step forward.
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