Monday, August 01, 2011

A slap on the back for a snack food company

I'd like to send my warmest thanks to the Smith's Snackfood Company Limited, producers of Smith's potato crisps. If their crisps are labelled accurately, many of their lines, perhaps all for all I know, no longer contain palm oil, an ingredient that many people wish to avoid for health and ethical reasons. The expansion of palm oil plantations in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia are thought to be a major factor, along with logging, in the destruction of the habitats of the orangutan and other amazing endangered animals.

The pack of most delicious Smith's crisps that I have in front of me now has ingredient labelling that looks as though it gives a pretty-much full disclosure of what is in the product, unlike previous ingredient labelling that did not specify types of oils used. It appears that the Smith's Snackfood Company have not waited for the federal government to pass long-awaited legislation requiring the full labelling of foods, to their credit. It appears that competitors who produce Samboy crisps still do not specify what oils they use in their crisps, and I'd bet there is still palm oil in Samboy crisps. Samboy crisps taste terrible, so I'm not surprised that the manufacturer of that product don't seem to give a damn. Thank you so much, Smith's crisps people! I hope one day that the jokers who make Samboy chips will follow your good example!


Link to a story at the 7.30 TV current affairs show about deception, lack of disclosure and conflicting interests associated with logging and palm oil production replacing the habitats of the orangutan:

Zoos join fight to save endangered orangutans.
by Greg Hoy
7.30
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 03/08/2011
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3284832.htm

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