Cadbury New Zealand to revert to palm oil-free chocolate production

Cadbury New Zealand said today that it will exclude palm oil from its chocolate, following consumer outcry over the environmental impact of palm oil plantations.

The confectionary maker said the decision to revert to its cocoa butter-only formula was a direct result of consumer feedback.

The company has received hundreds of letters and emails of complaint following its move in June to replace some of the cocoa butter in its chocolate with vegetable fat, including palm oil. A Facebook group, "Take palm oil out of Cadbury chocolate bars", attracted nearly 3,500 members.

"At the time, we genuinely believed we were making the right decision, for the right reasons," Cadbury New Zealand managing director Matthew Oldham told the New Zealand Herald. "But we got it wrong. Now we're putting things right as soon as we possibly can and hope Kiwis will forgive us."

Auckland Zoo, which gave the campaign further momentum last month when it removed Cadbury chocolates from its shelves as part of its ban of all products containing palm oil, said it will reinstate the company's cocoa butter-only chocolate when it becomes available.

Palm oil-free chocolate production is expected to resume in a few weeks, said Oldham, who noted that Cadbury had used only palm oil that had been certified as sustainable.

Green groups have argued that some palm oil plantations are guilty of illegally clearing tropical rainforests to expand their operations.

Environmental concerns over the oil are likely to rise with the release of a new study by the World Agroforestry Centre, which found that palm plantations store less carbon than previously believed.

Less than 40 tons of above-ground biomass per hectare is stored on average over their 25-year lifespan, compared with between 70 and 200 tons in selectively logged forests, and up to 400 tons in undisturbed older rainforests.

The study, released earlier this month, collected data from two sites in Indonesia's Sumatra island and Kalimantan region, which have undergone rapid deforestation over the last 25 years.

Previous research by the World Bank and Department for International Development Indonesia estimated that palm plantations stored about 63 tons per hectare.

The World Agroforestry Centre recommends that palm oil plantations only be established in shrub and grassland areas, which store less than 40 tons of carbon per hectare, while areas that store higher levels of carbon should be set aside for conservation.