How palm oil became the world’ s most hated, most used fat s… – MENAFN.COM

How palm oil became the world’ s most hated, most used fat s… – MENAFN.COM

Palm oil is everywhere today: in food, soap, lipstick, even newspaper ink. It's been called the world's most hated crop because of its association with deforestation in Southeast Asia . But despite boycott campaigns , the world uses more palm oil than any other vegetable oil - over 73 million tons in 2020 . That's because palm oil is cheap. The plant that makes it, the African oil palm , can produce up to 10 times more oil per hectare than soybeans . But as my new book on palm oil's history shows, this controversial commodity hasn't always been cheap. It became that way thanks to legacies of colonialism and exploitation that still shape today's industry and that make it challenging to shift palm oil onto a more sustainable path. Palm oil and its derivatives are ubiquitous in consumer products but can appear under hundreds of names, such as glyceryl and sodium lauryl sulfate. From slavery to skin care Palm oil has long been a staple food in a region stretching from Senegal to Angola along Africa's western coast. It entered the global economy in the 1500s aboard ships engaged in the transatlantic slave trade . During the deadly 'middle