Burger King Drops Indonesian Palm Oil Company

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - US fast food giant Burger King said Thursday it would no longer buy palm oil from Indonesian group Sinar Mas or its subsidiaries after Greenpeace campaigned against its land-clearing practices. Burger King joins the likes of Unilever, Nestle and Kraft in shunning the group in a move that will increase pressure on other corporate buyers of its palm oil products, such as Pizza Hut, KFC, and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Indonesia is the biggest producer of palm oil which is used in everything from biscuits to cosmetics, but environmentalists say plantations are driving deforestation blamed for habitat loss and greenhouse gases.

Burger King said a recent independent audit of Sinar Mas palm oil unit SMART’s land-clearing practices — commissioned by Sinar Mas in response to the Greenpeace allegations — revealed activities “inconsistent with our corporate responsibility commitments”.

“We believe the report has raised valid concerns about some of the sustainability practices of Sinar Mas’ palm oil production and its impact on the rainforest,” Burger King said on its Facebook page.

“As part of our... corporate responsibility programme, Burger King Corp. is committed to sourcing our products from sustainable suppliers.”

It said it was looking for a new palm oil supplier for the 176 Burger King restaurants supplied by Sinar Mas.

“In addition, we are notifying our suppliers of our intent to discontinue the use of palm oil supplied by Sinar Mas in the manufacturing of our products.”

Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology (SMART) has been struggling to repair its image after a Greenpeace name-and-shame campaign led several foreign buyers to cancel major contracts.

Greenpeace says the company is clearing high-value peat forest against Indonesian law and failing to wait for environmental studies before starting plantation operations in sensitive areas of Borneo island.

Rampant deforestation, much of it illegal, is a major reason Indonesia is the world’s third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and is driving species like Sumatran tigers and orangutans to extinction.