What kind of oil do they use for your favorite potato chips? Unless you grow your own organic potatoes and cook them with olive oil you press yourself, it’s most likely some generic “vegetable oil” that is a random mix of canola oil, sunflower oil and others.
In my case, that would be Better Made potato chips, a Detroit tradition. According to the company’s website, Better Made potato chips are made with 100% cottonseed oil. But the bags all say “cottonseed or palm oil.”
The problem with palm oil is that the way it’s harvested in some places is wrecking the habitats of some orangutans. By eating Better Made potato chips, am I contributing to the extinction of the orangutans?
For a while, I stopped buying Better Made potato chips and checking the ingredients list for other potato chips. I also started a petition on Change.org. I figured, if they don’t care about the orangutans, they care about people buying or not buying their potato chips.
At around that same time, Honey Bee Market had started stocking the Better Made “Rainbow” chips, which look burnt and are, in my opinion, very delicious, much more so than “original.” (Why “original” is not really original is a topic for another day).
From there, my slide down into full hypocrisy was slow but sure. I’m back to buying Better Made potato chips, both regular and dark. And even if I had kept up the boycott, I’m just one person.
The guy who alerted me to the palm oil problem has either forgotten about it and moved on to other causes, or doesn’t care about potato chips. Maybe both explanations apply.
Surely I’ve got more people with me on my boycotts of Walmart and McDonald’s, as palm oil sourcing awareness lags far behind awareness of how poorly Walmart and McDonald’s treat their employees.
I’ve tried contacting the Better Made company. I haven’t gotten a straight answer. From Better Made Vice President Phil Gusmano:
Here at Better Made we use cotton seed oil for our brand. We, on occasion, will manufacture private label for other customers. Those customers require palm oil as there [sic] oil. Let me assure you all palm oil we use is responsibly sourced. We are doing our part to ensure future generations have a diverse ecosystem too. ... The reason that we use the multiple declarations on oils is a potential allergen issue. We want our customers to be aware that we have different oils in the same facility in case they have a concern.
I’m skeptical about the palm oil allergy, but I’m no doctor and have no right to tell people their concerns about being palm oil being an allergen are illegitimate.
However, this raises the question: given that Better Made also makes cheese puffs, are those made in the same building as the potato chips? And if so, why don’t the bags of potato chips list milk or cheese (which many people are definitely allergic to) among the ingredients?
Regardless, I can think of a few simple ways to change the packaging to neatly and succinctly address both the responsible sourcing concern and the allergen concern.
Surely there is some kind of responsible sourcing certification agency that could verify and certify Better Made uses responsibly sourced ingredients and grant the right to put a logo to that effect on the packaging. Right now, all I have to indicate responsibly sourcing for the palm oil processed at the Better Made facility is Gusmano’s letter to me.
As for allergy information, the fix is even easier. I’ve seen it on other company’s products: “processed in a facility that also handles tree nuts,” is one you see on many Gold Emblem (CVS) products, for example.
Better Made could do the same for palm oil. This is of course assuming Better Made really does only use cottonseed oil and no palm oil at all for the Better Made potato chips.
Now, lawyers, correct me if I’m wrong, but the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) can only regulate what’s written on the bags, not the content of the website, which is protected by the First Amendment.
And so, if the Better Made executives wanted it to, the Better Made website could make absurd claims like “cooked with authentic Klingon olive oil.” (I suppose that, if nothing else, I will get corrections from Star Trek fans).
But the bags have to be labeled according to FDA standards, right? Which leaves me with the suspicion that Better Made does use a cottonseed/palm oil mix and does not assuage my concern about responsible sourcing.
I don’t really like Lay’s anymore. Not even the baked potato chips (or “potato crisps,” but that’s a can of worms I don’t really care about). Surely a big company like Lay’s has some ethical issues to worry us. Am I supposed to be one of those hardcore vegans who don’t eat anything that casts a shadow?
If this is not an issue to take up with the FDA nor is it an issue to take up with Detroit City Council, I don’t know if it’s an appropriate issue to be taken up by any government agency at any level.
And with the impending disasters of our next president (a fraud who finally settled a class action lawsuit for a fake university and bribed an attorney general with money from his charitable foundation), corporate accountability to consumers may become a thing of the past.