Cadbury

Finally, a response from Cadbury. This more than any of the other responses has really annoyed me. I'd love to hear what you think:

"As you are aware, palm oil is used by most major food and consumer goods manufacturers, and widely established as a core ingredient, for example in margarine, soap and many other products. For confectionery, a very small amount of palm oil is used in our products, and is key for consumer preferred tasted and texture profile.

Cadbury are a very small user of palm oil, typically less than 0.1% of global supply.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was formed in 2004, and Cadbury have been active board members since its inception. We are also members of the Coalition on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Both groups have a range of board members from manufacturers (who use palm oil), suppliers and processors, major retailers and the NGO community (a full list of members can be found at www.rspo.org)

The RSPO has recently established principles and criteria for certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) production. 'GreenPalm' is one of the systems that conforms to this, and which supports the delivery of CSPO to the market. Cadbury is sourcing its palm oil to the 'GreenPalm' system, while we also work to stengthen supply systems. Through this and the broader work of the RSPO and Coalition on Sustainable Palm Oil, we are supporting the sustainable practices of individual palm oil producers.

Like all our ingredients, Cadbury is committed to ethical and sustainable sourcing of palm oil. This year (2009) we will have 'GreenPalm' certificates for all of the palm oil that we purchase for our products. We will continue to renew these as we work with the RSPO to develop a practicable, segregated supply chain by 2014.

Our recent move to Fairtrade certification of Cadbury Dairy Milk in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Japan also shows our commitment to sustainable sourcing. This move builds upon the work of the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership, launched in 2008 in partnership with the United National Development Programme, local governments, farmers and communities.

The ground-breaking Cadbury Cocoa Partnership aims to secure the economic, social and environmental sustainability of around a million cocoa farmers and their communities in Ghana, India, Indonesia and the Caribbean. Over ten years £45 million GBP will be invested through the partnership to improve farmer incomes, develop communities and build partnerships. In January 2009 Cadbury announced that the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership was now active across 100 Ghanaian communities, mamrking the 100th anniversary of cocoa trading with Ghana.

If you want more information about 'GreenPalm', the RSPO and certification, please visit: www.rspo.org and www.greenpalm.org"

Out of all the people I've contacted so far, Cadbury has by far taken the longest time to respond (though Green & Blacks was very quick). It opens the letter by naming other products that contain palm oil and then by saying it uses less than 0.1%. So many manufactuers are saying their usage is minimal - but this puzzles me. Where is all the palm oil that is being produced going to? This also hits me as trying to push the blame firmly onto other companies, and whilst they are at fault to a point, Cadbury's is equally to blame, but here try to excuse their actions in a very lame manner.

I have heard reports about certificates for sustainable palm oil and how they can be sold as pieces of paper that don't mean very much. My next mission will be to research in more depth about GreenPalm and what these certificates actually mean.

It also annoyed me that they state that the inclusion of palm oil in their products was 'key for consumer preferred tasted and texture profile' - excuse me, but haven't they just been proved wrong in Australia/New Zealand? I commented on this in my letter and they chose to ignore it. I bet if people were given samples of Dairy Milk with and without palm oil, they would either not be able to tell the difference, or prefer it as it used to be - without the palm oil.

This statement also implies they are actually proud of using palm oil - if so, why isn't it clearly labelled on their products?

Finally, though I think it's very admirable that Cadbury are working on Fairtrade, as this is another passion of mine, however I don't think it's relevant to mention in such detail, what they are doing in Ghana, in a reply to a letter about their use of palm oil. They deflected all the questions such as 'which of your products contain palm oil' and 'why isn't it labelled' and instead tried to impress me with talk of their Cocoa Partnership - completely irrelevant in this context.

What do you think?