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My thoughts on Earth Balance and other “vegan” butters
By jen | April 21, 2010
Caption from International Land Coalition: An orangutan is seen with an tranquilizer dart in his side - to make him sleep before rangers relocate him to another place on Borneo island, away from this palm oil plantation.
I came across a post from Veganbaking.net, a fantastic site and resource on vegan baking (duh), on a new butter alternative called Vegan By Nature. Like many other vegan butters, such as the super popular Earth Balance, this product contains palm (in this case “palm fruit glycerin” instead of oil). Unlike the other brands, however, Vegan By Nature actually lists where it sources its palm (Indonesia). While some vegan sites are touting this brand as a good alternative to Earth Balance because it contains more “natural” ingredients, I take issue with the continued promotion by vegans (on websites, blogs, cookbooks, etc.) of “vegan” products containing palm despite growing awareness of the detrimental effects its production has on the environment and animals.
Here was my response to the post:
Don’t think I’ll be trying this product
According to the Center for Science in the Public interest (http://www.cspinet.org/palm/), palm oil production is responsible for the widespread destruction of rainforests and wildlife populations. Specifically, according to their site:
“Of the more than 400 land mammal species of Indonesia, 15 are critically endangered and another 125 threatened. Of Malaysia’s nearly 300 land mammal species, 6 are critically endangered and 41 threatened. The numbers of threatened species climb higher when terrestrial reptiles, amphibians, and birds are included. Moreover, certain animals, such as the orangutan, are only found in these countries; when their rainforest habitat vanishes, so will they.”
I think the ecological implications of supporting products that use palm oil (especially palm oil harvested from Indonesia or Malaysia, which account for the vast majority of the world’s production), are far too great to be ignored by vegans. Yes, it’s true that the ingredient lists for these dairy alternatives are free of animal products, but animals (and the environment) are suffering as a direct result of our desire for “healthier” baked goods (containing non-hydrogenated fats). I, like you, try as much as possible consume products that contain more natural ingredients. However, I find the notion that somehow cookies, cakes, pastries and other baked goods are supposed to be “good” for us is absurd. I do not believe pastries–vegan or otherwise–should be included as a regular part of anyone’s diet.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any solutions in the way of recommending a more ecologically/vegan-friendly butter alternative (yet!). I will, however, gladly eliminate my use of any palm oil as much as possible, the same way I eliminated meat, eggs, dairy, honey and other animal products (to the best of my ability) because my consumption harmed animals, my health and the environment.
There are a lot of news and research articles (as well as blog posts) on this topic online. Simply do a search on “palm oil” with “Earth Balance,” “Indonesia,” “Malaysia,” “Orangutans,” or “Rainforest destruction” to learn more about this issue. (Note: the above photo was borrowed from a post by the International Land Coalition.)
Topics: Activism, Animals, Environment |
April 21st, 2010 at 5:23 PM
Thanks for this post! I find it truly disturbing how many people fail to see the need to avoid palm oil. These products technically contain no animal products. But eating them is not cruelty free!
April 25th, 2010 at 11:04 AM
for many, if it is vegan it is awesome, with no questions asked. Thank you for delving deeper into the situation! As chefs/bakers, we have even more responsibility since we are feeding more than our own households and thus consuming and producing more.
I am finding coconut oil to be the answer to most of my baking needs. Problem is it is expensive; nor is it local to where i currently am based.
May 10th, 2010 at 2:44 PM
I agree! Coconut oil is a fantastic alternative.
And I’ll share my secret to getting it in bulk for less expensive (just make sure to keep it in the fridge).
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/search/search.php?refine=y&keywords=coconut+oil&x=0&y=0
June 7th, 2010 at 11:42 PM
Use Nucoa!
I actually have no idea whether it contains palm or not (and I’m too lazy to walk to the fridge to find out), but I like this margarine far better than EB or any other vegan alternative available.
Plus(!), it’s available at regular old grocery stores and doesn’t cost $6 bucks a tub. Aaaand, it’s available in sticks! No scooping a half cup out of a tub of EB.
And that’s my vegan secret for today.
-A
June 7th, 2010 at 11:45 PM
Alright, I womaned up and made the journey to the kitchen. No palm oil!
Just partially hydrogenated goodness, but, hey, it’s margarine! Go Nucoa!
-A
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August 12th, 2010 at 10:07 PM
These are the ingredients of Earth Blance: expeller pressed natural oil blend (soybean palm fruit, canola and olive), filtered water, pure salt, natural flavor (derived from corn, no MSG, no alcohol, no gluten), soy protein, soy lecithin, lactic acid (non-dairy, derived from sugar beets), and beta-carotene color (from natural source).
This is an awful lot of processing to arrive at a butter that is claimed to be unhealthy. This pseudo butter is now a processed food and this is more problematic than butter. Add to that a plastic bin and I see no justification for buying this substance whatsoever.
And when you look at the nutritional facts both have the same fat content per 14 g serving: 17%. Don’t forget that there are a lot of people who read a one-off publication like the China Study and decide overnight that all milk products are bad. This study is highly biased and discredited. There is no transcultural study to make this study have legs, on the one hand and furthermore, an association between serum levels of fatty acids and disease does not in itself establish causality. For instance the Maasai and Inuit both have diets high in animal fat and protein and yet extremely low rates of cancer. More fundamentally, Campbell omitted data showing a higher correlation between wheat flour intake and many diseases (notably coronary heart disease, cervical cancer, hypertension and stroke) than with animal protein intake.
So what is the best way to eat healthily. This is my own scientific recommendation:
Refrigerate olive oil!!!
Whole foods and cold-pressed oils are the best and the ingredients in Earth Balance should garner shock not praise from alleged healthy minded people. There is little healthy about it and ecologically it is a disaster–from the rain forests that this company is destroying (there is a lot written about this) to the plastic tub.