Stand against haze pollution: 12 kids' snacks you should boycott

If you are sick and tired of the dreaded haze, here's a way you can be a part of the solution to hopefully put an end to it once and for all!

Stand against haze pollution: 12 kids’ snacks you should boycott

The haze is back (well, it didn’t actually really go away to begin with) and we can hear the collective disgruntled groans across the nation.

Just when we thought it was safe to bring our little ones outside for some much needed sunshine and fresh air, that gloomy blanket of haze has crept back into our lives once again.

If you’re just as sick and tired of it as we are, here’s something you can do to help stand against haze pollution – boycott food products that use unsustainable palm oil, which is linked to major issues like deforestation, climate change and animal cruelty.

We have made a list of 12 kids’ snacks you should stop buying and some information provided by Say No To Palm Oil about the palm oil industry's contribution to the haze.

Hopefully, every little effort counts and the companies affected will finally make a change for the better.

Hello Panda biscuits

These popular cream-filled biscuit treats may have images of cute pandas printed on them, but the palm oil that is used to make them are causing the deforestation of other wildlife such as orangutans, tigers, bears, elephants, rhinoceroses, leopards and monkeys.

According to Say No To Palm Oil, not only do these animals lose their homes, deforestation also increases their accessibility to poachers and wildlife smugglers who will use them for medicinal purposes, capture and sell them as exotic pets, and even hunt and kill them for their body parts.

Hello Panda? More like, goodbye wildlife!

(Image source: Hello Panda Facebook)

Ritz crackers

Ritz crackers may taste great as a quick snack, but it may also come with a side order of human rights violations.

Say No To Palm Oil explains that the palm oil industry is linked to child labour in remote areas of Malaysia and Indonesia, where children are made to carry large loads, weed the fields, and spend many hours every single day out in the hot sun bent over collecting fruit from the plantation floor.

If you wouldn’t want your own child to be exploited like that, then think about the kids who are subjected to such treatment all for the sake of the unsustainable palm oil that goes in those crackers.

Cadbury chocolates

This sinful pleasure may be filled with more sin than you think. Cadbury uses unsustainable palm oil in a lot of its chocolate products, including (but not limited to): Boost, Picnic, Roses, Dairy Milk & Sweet Biscuits, Dairy Milk & Crunchy Crackers, Breakaway, Time Out, Marvellous Creations, Freddo, Creme Egg, Caramello Egg, and all chocolate bars with soft creamy fillings.

The palm oil content is used in the emulsifier which helps to bind the creamy filling and stops it from separating.

Although the company has signed a New York declaration to end forest loss by 2030, many fear that it may be too late by then.

Oreo cookies

Oreos are known as "milk’s favourite cookies", but it certainly gets two thumbs down for using palm oil in its ingredients.

BBC News reports that every year there are agriculture fires in Indonesia which are caused by big corporations and small-scale farmers who use the slash-and-burn method to clear vegetation and make way for palm oil, pulp and paper plantations.

These fires often get out of control and then spread onto protected forest areas, which eventually cause the haze that affects countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand as well as the Philippines.

Cheezels

This crunchy cheese rings snack uses palm oil which significantly contributes to climate change, as native forests are usually burned of the invaluable timber as well as forest undergrowth, which emits great quantities of smoke into the atmosphere – thus the horrible haze.

Say No To Palm Oil explains that this has also made Indonesia the third highest greenhouse gas emitter in the whole world!

Say no to this original cheese snack if you would like to see a change for the better in our environment.

(Image source: Cheezels Asia Facebook)

Kellog's LCMs

Although these cereal snack bars are easy to pop into your child’s lunchbox to bring to school or as a snack at the playground, Kellog’s LCMs unfortunately contain palm oil which has caused over 90% of orangutan habitat to be destroyed within in the last 20 years.

According to Say No To Palm Oil, an estimated 1000 – 5000 orangutans are killed each year for the palm oil development and this is now considered a "conservation emergency" by the United Nations (UN).

We fear that these gentle creatures may become completely extinct and our children will only see their pictures and read about them in books.

Doritos Nachos chips and Salsa dip

Would you like to dip your nacho chips into the spilled blood of innocent animals?

Due to deforestation from palm oil plantations paving a clear path for poachers and wildlife smugglers to have better accessibility to animals, there have been a few disturbing reported cases where female orangutans were discovered being used as prostitutes in some Indonesian brothels and logging camps!

If you are just as shocked about this as we are, then you should stop supporting products that contain unsustainable palm oil.

Pop Tarts

Another product from Kellog’s that contains palm oil are Pop Tarts.

But you may want to stop popping these sweet treats into your toaster every morning once you learn that the haze caused by fires in the palm oil industry not only irritates the respiratory tract and eyes, it can also cause long-term damage to your health.

According to the BBC, fine particulate matter in the air can enter deeper into the lungs and has been associated with causing respiratory illnesses and even lung damage.

Warheads sour candy

These extreme sour candies are also extremely affecting the environment with their use of palm oil to make colourful little Warheads.

Say No To Palm Oil reports that the edible vegetable oil that is derived from the palm fruit is not only present in food products, but it is also used in 40-50% of household products in countries like the United States, Canada, Australia and England.

Here’s a Warheads challenge for you – stop supporting companies that use unsustainable palm oil!

(Image source: Warheads Facebook)

Twisties

Twisties has been around since the 1950’s, but its use of palm oil in the ingredients is enough to make us turn the other way.

According to Say No To Palm Oil, the plantations for palm oil are destroying forest lands that local people depend on, so they are left with little choice but to become plantation workers in order to survive and support their families.

These villagers are completely vulnerable and unable to sustain themselves so have become reliant on the success of the palm oil industry.

Pringles potato chips

"Once you pop, you can’t stop"? Well, here’s a conservation emergency you can help stop.

By saying no to products that include unsustainable palm oil, you are helping to put an end to the deforestation in Borneo and Sumatra which has led to a major animal welfare crisis.

Say No To Palm Oil has reported that wildlife such as orangutans are buried alive, brutally killed by machetes or guns, and mother orangutans are often killed by poachers to have their babies taken from them to be sold off or kept as exotic pets or sometimes used in the wildlife tourism industry.

Froot Loops cereal

Once again Kellogs has made it to our list because of the use of palm oil in their Froot Loops cereal.

Say No To Palm Oil mentions that the lucrative palm oil trade has cleared even more land in recent years and as the burnt land gets drier, it becomes more susceptible to catching fire the next time there are more slash-and-burn clearings.

So let’s stop supporting this never-ending cycle and boycott all products which contain unsustainable palm oil to do our part to stand against haze pollution once and for all!

Written by

Dew M. Chaiyanara

kids snacks