Palm Oil Investigation Audit

Palm Oil Audit

As mentioned in our recent newsletter article on palm oil, we are in the process of auditing all of our products in partnership with an organisation called Palm Oil Investigations for any untraceable and unsustainable palm oil as well as any derivatives of palm oil. Palm Oil Investigations is an independent organisation dedicated to raising awareness about the impacts of unregulated palm oil production as well as investigating and exposing products that hide palm oil as an ingredient to consumers. Once we have completed the audit and investigation process, we hope to be completely free of any products containing untraceable palm oil or its derivatives and become certified as a Palm Oil Investigation approved business. For more information on what it means to become a Palm Oil Investigation approved brand, please see this link HERE As noted in our last article, our Ethics Policy has always stipulated that we will only stock products containing certified organic and sustainable palm oil. However, there are many certified organic products that are labelled as containing ‘sustainable’ palm oil and it is sometimes difficult to trace the palm oil back to the source of origin to ensure that it is truly sustainable. As part of this audit, we will require our suppliers and manufacturers to provide documentation to show exactly where the palm oil has come from as well as each step of the process before determining whether it can really be described as ‘sustainable’. Where this documentation and traceability cannot be provided, we will not continue to stock their products. We hope that this will also encourage suppliers and manufacturers to consider where their palm oil comes from and make alternative choices. In addition, there are many derivatives of palm oil that are hidden in products with over 200 different names. Some common ingredients such as cetearyl alcohol, glycerine, lecithin, potassium stearate and various fatty acids are in fact palm oil derived ingredients. In the past, our Ethics Policy has not addressed these derivatives as they are in a huge range of products and have also been very difficult to identify. With the help of Palm Oil Investigations, we will be able to identify these derivatives and eliminate any products containing these ingredients. Although this will have a significant impact on a number of products within our skin, hair and beauty care range, we look forward to researching, sourcing and supporting alternative products that are truly palm oil free. Over the coming months, we will be working very closely with Palm Oil Investigations and will keep you updated of our progress. Please feel free to contact our Ethics Researcher on this email olivia@santosorganics.com.au if you have any product enquiries or questions about this process.