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KFC dumps palm oil due to health, environmental concerns
"Switching to high oleic rapeseed oil means not only can we offer our customers the benefit of reduced saturated fats, but the assurance we're doing everything we can to lessen our impact on the environment,"
- Mark Bristow, head of KFC food assurance
KFC said it is making the change due to health and climate concerns. Palm oil is high is saturated fat and has been associated with destruction of carbon-dense peatlands and rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The move comes after pressure from environmental groups, including Greenpeace, whose campaign against the company featured orangutans, endangered apes that inhabit forests being converted for palm oil.
KFC will continue to use palm oil in fries, buns, and hash browns, but says it aims to convince its supplies to switch to other oil sources or use palm oil certified under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a body that establishes social and environmental standards for palm oil production.