EAZA's recent Council meeting in ZooParc de Beauval approved the publication of a new EAZA Position Statement on the EU "Food Labelling Directive". The statement forms part of a wider lobbying effort by EAZA members, encouraging MEPs to support a proposed amendment that would make it mandatory to label the presence of palm oil in products sold in Europe. To quote from the statement, "clear labelling of the presence of palm oil in food products would better inform EU citizens of the potential environmental, social and ethical impacts of their purchases". This is seen as a vital step towards ensuring that consumers can make informed decisions to avoid products that might have a detrimental impact on the future survival of species such as orangutans.

From the statement:

"While a native species of Africa, oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) grows well in many tropical countries and the majority of palm oil production takes place in Southeast Asia. The impact of the conversion of tropical forest to mono-culture oil palm plantations and the associated declines in already threatened species, such as the orangutan , are of significant concern to EAZA. In addition the removal of large areas of tropical forest leads to increased atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases through release of carbon from felled forests and methane release from the drying out of peaty soils on which they originally stood, thus accelerating the well-documented effects of climate change.

Currently there is no mandatory requirement in the EU for manufacturers to label palm oil (manufactured from the fruit of oil palm) or palm kernel oil (manufactured from the seeds of oil palm) on food products. Palm oil is generally labelled using the generic term 'vegetable oil' and is therefore a hidden ingredient of a wide variety of food products commonly found on EU supermarket shelves."

Download the complete statement now from ABOUT EAZA - Key Documents. (Scroll to bottom of the page.)