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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why you need palm oil in bread?

46 replies

Meggymoodle · 30/09/2015 09:36

I can't believe it - we've been trying to avoid palm oil in goods for a while now and I've never looked at the ingredients in shop-bought bread. DH checked yesterday for some reason - palm oil in all the bread products (other than rye bread) in our house. I mean why???

Where can I get non-palm oil bread? I'll have to make myself, won't I?

OP posts:
herderofcats · 30/09/2015 09:38

I think you probably will.

I've been avoiding glucose-fructose syrup and palm oil/palm fat for a while. They're in a lot of baked goods.

milkmilklemonade12 · 30/09/2015 09:39

I didn't know that either!

My mum makes her own and she says once you get into the habit (she leaves on a timer in her little bread oven), then it's quite easy.

Tarzanlovesgaby · 30/09/2015 09:39

yanbu
because it's cheap compared to other plant oils.

I bake myself so can't give pointers, but would suspect that more expensive ranges fare a bit better.

btw it is even in laundry detergents and soaps...

TerrorAustralis · 30/09/2015 09:40

YANBU and you don't need it. There is bread out there without palm oil, you just need to find it.

I'm living in an area of the world being directly environmentally affected by the palm oil industry right now, with shocking air pollution. Thank you for caring about it. It sometimes feels like the rest of the world doesn't know or care.

BikeRunSki · 30/09/2015 09:43

Some fat is needed to make bread and palm oil is cheap to produce. That's why it is in a lot of commercially produced food products. I am well aware of the environmental issues associated with it, which I why I make my owen peanut butter.

There is a commercial bakery called Roberts who don't use palm oil. They are based in Barnsley and their products are commonly found in supermarkets around South/West Yorkshire. This is where I live, so I don't really know about how far they distribute. They are not as big at the Warburtons and Hovices of the world, but I have seen their wagons on the motorway, so worth looking out for.

Lemith · 30/09/2015 09:44

Offtopic does anyone else find the Unilever adds on here about planing trees ridiculous?

That's one company that is built on palm oil.

TerrorAustralis · 30/09/2015 09:55

Unilever allegedly use sustainable palm oil.

Some fat is needed to make bread

We bake our own bread and don't use fat or oil. It does mean the bread has a shorter shelf life, though.

Original poster
Meggymoodle · 30/09/2015 10:34

bikerunski - Sunpat does not use palm oil in their peanut butter - in a rather revolutionary manner they use peanut oil. However, I'm not sure on the rest of their ethics.

We used to live in E. Africa and I have to say I found shopping there far less of an ethical minefield than I do here. It wears me out!

Bread maker it is then I guess......

Terror - it feels like our little bit of avoidance does nothing about anything other than make life difficult for ourselves, but I can't just ignore it.

OP posts:
ouryve · 30/09/2015 10:39

Because people have cottoned onto hydrogenated fat, which was what was previously used as a cheap way of improving the crumb texture.

ouryve · 30/09/2015 10:42

And I do prefer my breadmaker bread, for all sorts of reasons, but I'm having problems with cooling it at the moment, on account of a 9 year old giant mouse who pinches the crust off the top (DS2 - ASD and carb addict)

ouryve · 30/09/2015 10:42

Which reminds me that I have a cake to bake, cool and hide before 3pm. Best get off my backside!

BikeRunSki · 30/09/2015 10:45

Thanks Meggy I just don't like Sunpat peanut butter, it's so sweet it could be fudge!!

Original poster
Meggymoodle · 30/09/2015 10:59

Sunpat to sugar free (with no sweetners either!) but I'm guessing your home made is far far nicer.

OP posts:
Onthepigsback · 30/09/2015 11:08

Get a bread maker. It takes 2-3 mins prep, 30 seconds washing up a day if you do a loaf every day. Initial cost is around £80, each loaf about 40p in ingredients (unless you can get your flour cheaper in bulk). Taste is excellent and although it's best to eat within 2 days, I promise you that you will eat it, it's so delicious.

IamAgamemnon · 30/09/2015 11:18

I'm glad not to be the only one who looks for Palm oil in products.
Like a previous poster, I also feel that by us not consuming products with it in, it isn't really having any impact regarding its production and use but I can't knowingly buy products with it in.
Most biscuits, cakes, bread, spreads, sweets, chocolate contain it I've found. It makes shopping a very long winded affair. I already check everything for nuts and sweeteners (DD has a nut allergy and sweeteners set off my migraines) and this is just another thing I want to check for.

Mrsjayy · 30/09/2015 11:24

If you google sustainable palm oil uk there is a list of products (rubbish at links) i know sainsbury own is sustainable. Avoiding it all is hard avoiding most is better imo.

Mrsjayy · 30/09/2015 11:34

I got an email the other day with the list trying to work out how to copy the information

herderofcats · 30/09/2015 11:46

I'm avoiding it for health reasons, I don't want it, sustainable or not.

Mrsjayy · 30/09/2015 11:55

Ah ok

HesterShaw · 30/09/2015 12:04

You don't. Of course you don't. There are all sorts of alternatives.

I bought a bread maker last year. I have honestly only bought about five loaves of bread since. You can control exactly what goes in your loaf and it is so unbelievably easy. I run my own business and we work insane hours in the summer, and I still manage it. So if I can anyone can.

Other than than, Sainsbury's use sustainable palm oil in their own products.

ButtonLoon · 30/09/2015 12:08

I got a breadmaker to avoid this, and also soya flour in the bread. (I'm not against soya, I eat a reasonable amount of tofu, but I don't understand why they put it in the bread.

Also, I'm sick of that weird spongy texture sandwich bread has.

Peanut butter doesn't actually need any additional oil in it, but when it doesn't have the solid palm fat in the oil separates from the peanut mass and floats on the top so you have to stir in it after purchase. (I also make my own. Yay for underemployment?)

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 30/09/2015 12:34

Meridian Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter 280g has no palm oil and it's deee-licious !

There's a really good ingredients listing on Ocado so you can select a bread without palm oil that's stocked locally to you.

We [well DH to be honest] make our own bread. It's v easy once you get into the habit but with a bit of hunting around you can find commercial bread made without palm oil. Might be trickier at the cheaper end of the bread market though.

Do you have a local bakery or market? If we want stuff we can't be arsed to make then we buy it at a bakery, slice it and freeze it.

ceebie · 30/09/2015 12:34

The yield of palm oil per hectare vastly exceeds any other type of oil, so IF sustainably sourced, it is efficient in land-use terms. The Ethical Consumer (Sept/Oct 2015) has an article about whether to buy sustainable or boycott altogether, but sadly you have to subscribe to read it so I'm none the wiser.

The Rainforest Foundation has a Palm Oil guide:PalmOilGuide

Spartans · 30/09/2015 12:44

I own a peanut butter company. Plain peanut butter does not need additional oil. It should only need it if you are adding dry ingredients.

Anyway, bread doesn't need Palm oil. They use it bcause it's cheap and keeps Costs down.

herderofcats · 30/09/2015 13:10

Palm oil makes things taste kind of greasy, to me.

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