Health & Palm Oil in France:

how to stop and prevent

misleading information?

Laure d’Astorg, Secretary General

EPOC, October 29

Our Members

The situation in France since 2013 :

both health and environmental issues

2010: Greenpeace campaign

2010: Fierce criticism led by a few nutritionists

Heard it’s bad for health (CV disease, cancer…)

Parliamentary ‘Daudigny’ amendment in 2012

Will to increase the tax on Palm Oil because it is bad for health

No-palm oil’ growing trend at the supermarket Label “no palm oil” on products

Retailers TV Ads on “no palm oil” products in their supermarkets

=> Lead French consumers to think that Palm Oil is bad for health.

Negative media coverage on both on health and environmental aspects Bad for health

Don’t know where Palm Oil comes from

Destroying rainforest in the Far-East and Africa

A negative consumer perception about palm oilAn ingredient which could be avoided

Paris International Agricultural Show2014

Visitors15,000 to

20,000*

Mean time

spent5 mn

*Estimation from host and hostesses counting

A major event:

signature of a “Zero deforestation” Commitment Charter

Official signature of a “Zero deforestation”

Commitment Charter countersigned by

Carrefour, in presence of the Ministry of

Agriculture:

Committing companies to use in their

products 100% RSPO certified Palm Oil by

the end of 2015.

Committing companies to use in their

products 100% sustainable palm oil by 2020.

A sustainable palm oil is:

An oil which respects all the RSPO criteria

An oil which the origin is known and consequently which is traceable back

to the plantation

An oil without impact on deforestation from high conservation value forest

An oil without impact on deforestation from high carbon stock forest and

peat lands

An oil which doesn’t come from burn field agriculture

An oil which protects workers, populations and local communities’ rights,

respecting the “free and informed consent” principle for these

communities

An oil which encourage the development of small independent producers

2014 : Launch of a consumer website at the SIA

www.huiledepalmedurable.org

Showcasing palm oil’s naturalness

Providing visitors with an easy-to-

understand information

Responding to their concern on both health

and environment

2014 : Go live with an advertising print campaign

A print advertising was deployed from April, 28 until July, 21 across a series

of outlets.

Provide the French market with key facts and figures

regarding the consumption of palm oil in France

Elaboration of a study in

partnership with the CREDOC

on the consumption of palm oil

in France

=> The level of consumption does not

justify the actual controversy.

Evolution of the palm oil image in 2014

45%

31%

26%

18%

21%

13%

8%

46%

31%

28%

21%20%

14%

5%

50%

38%

33%

25%

22%

16%

9%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Produit 100% naturel Provient d'un fruit Intéressante pour latexture qu'elle

apporte

Intéressante pour laconservation des

produits

Part modeste dansl'alimentation

Pas d'effet négatif surla santé

Productionrespectueuse des

hommes et del'environnement

Février

Juillet

Décembre

Image

Barometer

IFOP

Environment remains the main concern for consumers

In France, the health issue dominated the online conversations at the

beginning of 2014. The trend reversed a the end of the year with mainly online

conversations on the environmental aspect (71%).

Organization of a workshop on

Zero deforestation at the Forum ConvergencesSeptember 2015

More than 130 participants (NGOs, companies, retailers, scientifics,

journalists…)

Representative of different sectors (palm oil, soy, rubber, paper pulp and timber)

commited in sustainability

Participation of French consumers with a live tweet during the workshop

Provide information to doctors and their patients

in waiting roomsOctober 2015 to March 2016

Outreach of 302 500 brochures to patients …

…in 6 000 waiting rooms in France

An information

document

for doctors !

An information

document

for their patients !

An online quiz

for patients !