25 Sneaky Names for Palm Oil

Palm oil is the most popularly used vegetable oil in the world. It is remarkably versatile and is used in everything from snack food and shampoo to biofuel. It is so prevalent that it can be found in around half of the packaged items in most supermarkets.

It comes from the fruit of the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis), which is native to West Africa. It was once used for basic things like food and fiber, but with a yield greater than other vegetable oil crops and with low labor costs, it has become the go-to oil. While trees were once planted in small-scale, sustainable systems, the high demand has created a need for large-scale plantations.

The Ecological Impact of Palm Oil

To make room for palm crops, huge areas of tropical forests and other ecosystems where conservation is important are being stripped bare. Critical habitat for orangutans and many endangered species—including rhinos, elephants, and tigers—has been destroyed. Forest-dwelling people lose their land, and local communities are negatively affected. Catastrophic fires have taken place in Indonesia due to plantation slash-and-burn clearing that has run amok.

Images of orangutans clinging to trees mid-bulldoze should be enough to stop the deforestation, but here we are. The endangered Bornean orangutan and the critically endangered Sumatran orangutan have reduced habitat by 50 percent in the last two decades. The orangutan population numbers have been halved as a result.

Global production of palm oil has more than quadrupled from 15 million tons in 1995 to 66 million tons in 2017. The global palm oil market was valued at $67.3 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.1% from 2023 to 2030. While the demand for palm oil may be hard to stem, by supporting sustainably produced palm oil, consumers can play a role in decreasing the destruction brought on by corporate interests.

Other Names

Palm oil and its derivatives can appear under more names than just “palm oil.” While some of these ingredients listed by the World Wildlife Fund—like vegetable oil—aren’t always made from palm oil, they can be:

1. Elaeis guineensis
2. Etyl palmitate
3. Glyceryl
4. Hydrogenated palm glycerides
5. Octyl palmitate
6. Palm fruit oil
7. Palm kernel
8. Palm kernel oil
9. Palm stearine
10. Palmate
11. Palmitate
12. Palmitic acid
13. Palmitoyl oxostearamide
14. Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3
15. Palmityl alcohol
16. Palmolein
17. Sodium kernelate
18. Sodium laureth sulfate
19. Sodium lauryl lactylate/sulphate
20. Sodium lauryl sulfate
21. Sodium palm kernelate
22. Stearate
23. Stearic acid
24. Vegetable fat
25. Vegetable oil

If you see these ingredients on a label, you can call the company and enquire whether they include palm oil and/or if they source palm oil from sustainable enterprises.

Also, WWF advises consumers to look for the  Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) label to ensure that certified sustainable palm oil, produced in socially and environmentally responsible ways, was used. The Rainforest Alliance has a certification label as well.