THE’Palm oil is the pet peeve of the moment. According to a Findus study presented today, the French consume a lot of palm oil without knowing it.
Present in biscuits, cakes, crisps and other prepared meals, it is often not identifiable because it is mentioned under the misleading term “vegetable oil”. A mention that refers more to a “good oil” for consumers.
The study, carried out on ten households, showed that each person consumes on average 57g palm oil per month (nearly 10% of the maximum intake of saturated fatty acids). This consumption can vary between 41 and 167 grams per month depending on the composition of the households. For example, a family that often nibbles or eats prepared meals consumes between 173 and 553 grams per month.
Palm oil, when consumed in too much quantity, can be dangerous for health because it is rich in saturated fatty acids, those who “cling” the most to the arteries, explained Jean-Michel Cohen, nutritionist present at the Findus press conference.
Nonetheless, he went on to say that “these amounts will not kill consumers but they will have enough health impairment to be highlighted.”
Good news : Findus has already partially abandoned palm oil since 2009 and is committed to completely eliminating it from its frozen foods from December 1. Casino, for its part, is reviewing all of its product recipes. 200 out of 570 should be palm oil-free before the end of the year according to information from depêche.fr.
More information on palm oil in our articles “to read also”.
