ForFreeChoice: Higher Saturates in Palm Oil-Free Foods

Last year, a consumer rights think-tank called ForFreeChoice Institute released an interesting finding: palm oil-free foods have higher saturates and are less sustainable compared to their palm oil counterparts. The Italy-based organisation compared the total and saturated fat contents per 100g of both the palm oil and palm oil-free version of the 96 products. Interestingly, the result was that most of the palm oil-free products recorded a higher average of saturated fat levels in comparison to their palm alternatives.

Average levels of saturated fats by category (Source: ForFreeChoice)

The organisation claims that this finding further substantiates its longstanding opinion that “food brands are profiting from ‘free-from’ fake news”, thus misleading consumers, with Giacomo Bandini, a senior research fellow at ForFreeChoice Institute, explaining that:

“There is not much difference in the amount of saturated fats [between palm oil and palm oil free products]… [Cheese flavoured potato crisps are] the most evident exception, but that is the only one.”

BFM: Thorny Dispute Over Unlicenced Durian Farming

Segi Enam Advisors principal Khor Yu Leng was invited on BFM to talk about unlicenced durian farming in Malaysia. This follows the slew of allegations from unlicenced Musang King farmers against the Royal Pahang Durian Resources PKPP Sdn Bhd, who claimed that they had been pressured into entering unfair contracts with the state-linked company. Click on the following link to listen to the podcast: Thorny Dispute Over Unlicenced Durian Farming.

Unlicenced Musang King farmers in Pahang are crying foul over a legalisation scheme by private state-linked company Royal Pahang Durian Produce-PKPP Sdn Bhd, which stipulates a yearly rent and a flat rate for durians. We speak with Khor Yu Leng for her insights.

Image Source: EPA-EFE; produced by: Loo Juosie; presented by: Lee Chwi Lynn

SIIA Haze Outlook 2020: Policy Directions for 2019-2020

The risk assessment on the possibility and severity of a haze this year made in the SIIA Haze Report 2020 (authored by the Singaporean Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) and Segi Enam Advisors) involved analysing the recent policy directions undertaken by the Indonesian government.

Naturally, much of the analysis was focused on the Peatland Restoration Agency (Badan Restorasi Gambut or BRG), the agency first set up by President Joko Widodo in 2016 with the mandate to re-wet 2.67 million hectares of peatland across seven provinces by 2020. By end-2018, BRG reported that it has restored 780,000 hectares of peatland, although observers have pointed out that the lack of transparency and independent monitoring made it difficult to verify that claim (Jong, 2020; Gewin 2020).

BRG’s ambitious goal to re-wet 2.67 million hectares of peatland required the corporation of several agencies and a funding of at least 39 trillion rupiah (USD2.73 billion) (Jong, 2018) (Photo credit: BRG)

Recent policy efforts are also aimed to halve the number of hotspots from the 2015 count by 2019, beginning with ensuring that 2.4 million hectares of peatland remain unburned and identifying up to 731 villages as fire-prone communities (Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs of Indonesia/KKBP et al., 2017). The government has taken various measures in attempt to achieve this objective, including upgrading early fire responses, increasing the enforcement of existing laws regarding forest concessions, and developing adequate infrastructure (such as water management systems) in fire-prone areas.

Read the full report for more information: SIIA Haze Report 2020