GET ACQUAINTED! WITH ECO-FRIENDLY PALM OIL
Currently, the public is still confused about what is socially and environmentally friendly palm oil? Well, to answer this, the WWF Indonesia Foundation reintroduces the public to environmentally friendly palm oil derivative products. Collaborating with Super Indo, WWF-Indonesia provides understanding to the public about the role of sustainable palm oil supply chain in Indonesia.
The collaboration was carried out through a public campaign with the theme "Get Acquainted with Socially and Environmentally Friendly Palm Oil" which took place at FX Sudirman, Jakarta, last June 26, 2023. This public campaign was filled with various activities such as talk shows, cooking demonstrations, and cooking competitions that were attended by members of the WWF-Indonesia-assisted waste bank community, members of the women's community and environmental care communities in the Greater Jakarta area, as well as the general public.
Joko Sarjito as Deputy Director of Climate and Market Transformation WWF-Indonesia in his speech said, "Public interest in buying palm oil-based products that are socially and environmentally friendly is high. However, consumers often do not know where to find these products. For this reason, in addition to increasing our awareness of socially friendly and sustainable palm oil derivative products, it is also to encourage the role of the public (community) to want to consume these products, so that they become part of the lifestyle. Therefore, WWF strives to support sustainable palm oil management," he concluded.
Began the collaboration between WWF-Indonesia and Super Indo with a talk show session attended by Angga Pratama, Sustainable Palm Oil leader of WWF-Indonesia, Mrs. Yuvlinda D. Susanta as General Manager (GM) Corporate Affairs & Sustainability of PT Lion Super Indo Super Indo, Chef Ragil Imam Wibowo (Indonesian Chef and Founder of Nusa Gastronomy, @dapuragil) and also Tintin Rayner (Home Cooking Influencer and Author, @tintinrayner).
One of the speakers from WWF-Indonesia, Angga Pratama, Sustainable Plam Oil Project Leader WWF-Indonesia revealed, "Unsustainable palm oil production uses a lot of chemical fertilizers. There are also practices that discriminate against local or indigenous communities. By choosing labeled palm oil derivative products, we also support the recognition of the rights of indigenous or local communities. If the economic value of sustainable palm oil products is good enough, it will certainly have a positive impact on the community."
Super Indo, as one of the supermarkets spread across several major cities, is the first retailer in Indonesia to have socially and environmentally friendly palm cooking oil products labeled (RSPO label) under the 365 brand.
Yuvlinda D. Susanta, GM Corporate Affairs & Sustainability of PT Lion Super Indo explained that Super Indo was moved to provide a choice of socially and environmentally friendly products, one of which is labeled cooking oil, for the community. According to him, the main challenge is how to minimize the price difference, because everything that follows global standards certainly costs money. So in terms of price, it will be a little bit more expensive, because in the process of providing it, there are additional costs when compared to providing regular cooking oil.
According to Chef Ragil as a chef and culinary practitioner. He said that he has known about labeled cooking oil for quite a long time, but only in the last 3-4 years started using it because previously it was difficult to get the cooking oil. Chef Ragil said that he has now switched to using labeled cooking oil because of his concern for palm oil farmers. He believes that labeled cooking oil in its production process from upstream to downstream already pays attention to social and environmental aspects.
"In the professional cooking world, there is no standardized rule to use socially and environmentally friendly cooking oil. But among cooks, especially the younger generation, the awareness to look for socially and environmentally friendly food ingredients has begun to rise. This is motivated by the increasing demand from some consumers in cafes or restaurants to consume food with certified ingredients," he added.
Tintin Rayner, a home cooking influencer, also shared her views. Tintin admitted that before attending this event, she did not know about the existence of socially and environmentally friendly cooking oil. She also uses different brands of cooking oil, not sticking to one brand.
But by participating in this event, Tintin admitted that she became more concerned and wanted to use labeled cooking oil for daily cooking, and as an influencer, especially in the culinary field (home cooking), she also wanted to participate in inviting her followers and people around her to use sustainable palm oil-derived products.
"I don't mind if I have to buy ecolabeled cooking oil at a slightly higher price than regular cooking oil, especially when there is a positive impact of the existence of these products on social and environmental aspects," she said.
With this public campaign, WWF-Indonesia hopes that more and more parties will be aware of the benefits of socially and environmentally friendly palm oil, and the marketing of labeled palm oil derivative products at the national level will expand.