Nature Alert: CADBURY PTY LTD

Saturday 13 March 2010

CADBURY PTY LTD

Reply received by a supporter
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Thank you for your recent email regarding our products. We are pleased to inform you that based on your feedback and that of hundreds of other Australians, we have decided to remove vegetable fat, including palm oil, and return to a cocoa butter only recipe for Cadburys entire moulded block chocolate range, including our flagship Cadbury Dairy Milk brand and product lines such as Old Gold and Dream.

The decision to remove vegetable fat, including palm oil and return to a cocoa butter only recipe was based on your feedback and that of hundreds of other Australians. At the time that we introduced vegetable fat, we genuinely believed we were making the right decision, for the right reasons. However, it is clear that we got it wrong. Now we're putting things right by returning to a cocoa only recipe as soon as we possibly can.

We'd also like to reassure you that at Cadbury, we remain committed to its product quality and environmental and ethical sourcing commitments. As a responsible business the palm oil we purchased for Cadbury Dairy Milk was independently certified as sustainable and we are one of the few companies in Australia to do so. However, you and many other consumers have told us you dont want palm oil in your Cadbury Dairy Milk, so its going.

We sincerely hope the change back to a cocoa butter only recipe will help restore your faith in Cadbury and our products. Cadbury Dairy Milk's quality is whats made Cadbury one of Australia's most trusted brands for many years. Changing the recipe put that trust at risk and we hope that returning to a cocoa butter only recipe is a change for the better.

Once again we thank you for your feedback. If you have any further
enquiries please do not hesitate to contact us on 1800 250 260.

Kind regards
CADBURY PTY LTD

Michelle
Consumer Services
Ref:1212737

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.