Consumer Attitudes toward Palm Oil: Insights from Focus Group Discussions

ABSTRACT

Palm oil is an ingredient of many food products. Despite its advantages, palm oil has been associated with adverse environmental, social, and health effects. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) promotes certified sustainable palm oil, but demand for RSPO-certified palm oil is relatively low. To gain insights into consumer attitudes with respect to palm oil, we conducted online and face-to-face focus group discussions in Germany. Results indicate knowledge gaps and predominantly negative attitudes toward palm oil. Stated preferences for palm oil-free products prevailed among respondents. But palm oil is not among the most important factors affecting consumption decisions, and the majority of respondents lacked information about alternatives to palm oil. Moreover, stated preferences might not reflect actual behavior. Consumers need reliable and accessible information on palm oil and certification. In the global context, it should be considered that replacing palm oil with less efficient alternatives might counteract sustainable development.

KEYWORDS:

• Attitude
• certification
• focus group
• palm oil
• sustainability

Declarations of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Notes

¹ Two different oils are derived from the fruits of the oil palm: palm kernel oil is obtained from crushing the kernel, and palm oil is extracted from the pulp. Composition and uses are different, but discourses on palm oil usually do not distinguish between the two. Therefore, “palm oil” is used as an umbrella term for both oils in this article.

² The geographic areas were defined according to federal states: North: Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Bremen, Lower Saxony, Hamburg; East: Brandenburg, Berlin, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Saxony; South: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria; West: North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies.