Destroying Asian Rainforests to Make Dog Food?

by Dr. Chris

May 15, 2011 By feeding your dog you may unknowingly be contributing to the destruction of Asian rain forests like those found in Indonesia. This is according The Guardian sighting a report from the Department of Food and Rural Affairs.

Pet foods often contain palm kernel meal, which is a byproduct of palm oil. According the Guardian, most of the palm oil is from plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia where increasing demands continues to lead to destruction of Asian rain forests.

Palm oil tree plantations cut down rain forests to plant more trees to keep up with demand.

It’s just not pet food, but all sort of products in the grocery store contain palm oil.

But thanks to more awareness of the problem more and more companies are trying to buy “sustainable palm oil” but not all companies are aware that this type of product is available.

Palm oil is a saturated vegetable fat that is semi-solid at room temperature. Palm oil is used because it is very low cost compared to other oils.

Palm kernel meal is used in pet foods because it is a cheap source of energy and protein.

Source: Pet Food and Asian Rain forests

Related: Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil

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