Sanitarium shares with our consumers concerns for ensuring both community and environmental health. In 2006 we moved our sourcing of palm products to member organisations of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) to ensure we were acting responsibly and helping to preserve the natural habitat of some of the world’s most endangered species.
Additionally, we are actively seeking alternative ingredient solutions to reduce the use of palm-oil in a small range of products where palm-oil offers product stability and longer, fresher shelf life.
Why use palm oil?
From a nutritional perspective palm oil is high in saturated fat, therefore we try to prioritise the use of poly and monounsaturated fats in our products rather than saturated fats. Because of the relatively high content of saturated fat in palm-oil, it is very stable over long periods of time, so there are reasons why palm oil is commonly used in foods.
If Sanitarium uses palm oil as an ingredient it is used only in small amounts where a functional purpose is served. We are actively searching for technically feasible alternatives.
Solutions for Sanitarium Products
We are pleased to assure consumers we have successfully removed palm oil as a stabiliser from our Peanut Butters, with our range now being free of palm oil, and importantly, with no impact on product quality or taste.
Sanitarium’s Granola Clusters breakfast cereal is currently under review by our food technology team to find a way to remove palm oil. In breakfast cereals with toasted oats and in some instances dried fruit, a small amount of palm oil helps to reduce the early onset of rancidity or loss of eating quality over time, naturally keeping the cereal fresher for longer.
A small number of products within our Vegie Delights range are also undergoing review with projects currently in place with the objective of removing palm-oil.
Testing Sustainable Sourcing
We are aware of concerns raised about the effectiveness of the RSPO audit process. We monitor the RSPO audit reports in relation to the plantations utilised. The RSPO audits are evidence based and publicly available, and should over time result in improved practices. For more information go to: www.rspo.org
We believe RSPO sourcing is the best available option in the interim while we look for alternative sources of oil that more closely meet our nutritional requirements.
Sanitarium’s Commitment to a Healthy World
Our philosophy to honour, preserve and care for our world as an entrusted gift, requiring thoughtful stewardship, leads to our commitment of supporting environmentally responsible farming. This commitment is demonstrated through our approach to procurement, product design and re-development of products. Our commitment to a healthy world is also demonstrated in our philosophy of truly nourishing food where we aim to offer simple combinations of nature’s whole plant foods to nourish body, mind, heart and spirit.
We take seriously the decisions we make around the foods we offer consumers and aim to balance the environmental impacts and the sustainability of communities where we source food ingredients recognising the inter-connected relationship these considerations have for the health of people and our planet.