“Have a break. Have a Kitkat.” Who does not know this popular tagline by one of Nestle’s wide array of chocolate bars? Almost everyone knows it by heart. But have you ever pondered on what a Kitkat bar is made of and where Nestle got the ingredients?
Nestle is in hot water because of using palm oil in its Kitkat bars. There is nothing wrong with using palm oil per se. However, the problem lies in where Nestle is getting its palm oil. Because the company uses a lot of palm oil for its many products, the supplier, Sinar Mas, cleared out parts of protected Indonesian rainforest against Indonesian laws.
Rainforest are important to the survival not only of animals living there (like the endangered orangutans which have been displaced because of Sinar Mas’ actions) but also ours. Rainforests convert majority of the carbon dioxide in the world to oxygen which we can breathe.
Greenpeace International, a well known environmental activist group, brought this exact issue to Nestle’s attention through the company’s Facebook fan page. Now the page is packed with comments filled with hate and disgust. Some vowed to boycott Nestle products this Easter. Nestle had initially threatened to delete comments that used spoof versions of Kitkat and other Nestle logos (It actually erased some comments). This only made fans feel that the company was not listening.
In response to this, the company released a statement that they have stopped working with Sinar Mas and that it will start to use sustainable palm oil (palm oil that did not cause rainforest destruction) starting 2015, a whole 5 years from now.
As Ollie Orangutan commented on Nestle’s fan page, “A Kitkat lasts seconds. Extinction is forever.” So, will you be eating a Kitkat before Nestle starts using sustainable palm oil?
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An orangutan who takes pictures of her surroundings is attracting thousands of fans on Facebook in just a couple of days.