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Experts argue that the amount of palm oil present in Nutella may be dangerous to our health.
STATES CHRONICLE – No matter how much you love Nutella, you need to read the ingredients it contains and think twice before buying it for you and your whole family. Even if Nutella is a guilty pleasure for many people, specialists pointed out that an ingredient present in its composition may cause cancer. The ingredient is palm oil. Based on the data provided by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), palm oil may be a possible carcinogen.
This ingredient may become cancer-causing if it is processed at approximately 200 degrees Celsius. When revising different vegetable oils, the EFSA revealed that carcinogens were able to form 2-monochloropropanediol (2-MCPD), glycidyl fatty acid esters (GE) and 3-monochloropropanediol (3-MCPD). Palm fats and palm oils contained the highest amounts of these dangerous substances.
The EFSA tries to raise awareness between buyers informing them that cakes and pastries represent the primary source of carcinogens to which consumers aged 3 and above are exposed. Specialists have noted that palm oil is one of the main ingredients in Nutella, which is owned by Ferrero, an Italian company.
Even leaving aside the fact that palm is cancer-causing, it still represents a threat to humans and the environment. It was characterized as being a contributor to species extinction, deforestation, increased greenhouse gas emissions and human rights violations. Ferrero developed the Ferrero Palm Oil Charter to try to guarantee that the palm oil used to produce Nutella does not fuel any of the abuses mentioned above.
Ferrero has also decided to become a member of the Palm Oil Innovation Group. The purpose of this initiative is to redesign the industry of palm oil, trying to fuel the development of the RSPO commitments and standards. Due to these efforts, Greenpeace named Ferrero as “one of the two leading companies” on the 2016 Palm Oil Scorecard.
Nevertheless, Nutella disapproves the adverse health claims underlining the idea that it is not normal to believe that palm oil is harmful to humans, even if there exist some speculative views. The new article also refers to a campaign from 1980’s in the US which targeted this ingredient as having a dangerous effect on humans’ health. However, the scientific community rejected that opinion and the use of palm oil increased again without people being aware of the consequences of its consumption.
Image source: flickr
