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Farmers Market Goes Palm Oil Free
MEDIA RELEASE
11 November
2013
Farmers Market Goes Palm Oil Free
The Grey Lynn Farmers Market is already a popular market for Aucklanders to shop for locally grown and produced foods. Now market shoppers can feel confident that their purchases are not supporting the palm oil industry and the environmental damage and habitat destruction that oil palm plantations are creating.
According to Auckland Zoo, the equivalent of 54 rugby fields of rainforest and peat swamp forest is being converted to oil palm plantations every hour in Indonesia. This is devastating orangutan habitat and pushing orangutans close to extinction in the wild. Auckland Zoo’s Conservation Fund works with the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme to rehabilitate orangutans in Sumatra, where 90% of orangutan habitat has been destroyed. Auckland Zoo actively promotes the ‘Buy Palm Oil- Free’ message and has created an ‘Orangutan Caring Week’ (9-17 November 2013) full of activities and events to raise awareness of the plight of this critically endangered species. As part of Orangutan Caring Week, the Grey Lynn Farmers Market will be holding a special palm oil- free market in front of Auckland Zoo on Sunday 17th November.
The Grey Lynn Farmers Market won’t stop there though. From that date on, the market will be 100% palm oil free, with no palm oil used as an ingredient in any products sold at the market.
“Auckland Zoo contacted us about working with them to promote palm oil free foods. After realising how damaging palm oil plantations can be to the environment and to orangutan habitat it only seemed right that the Grey Lynn Farmers Market become 100% palm oil free. Most of our producers were already producing high-quality artisan foods from scratch and not using palm oil. It was just a matter of working with stallholders to ensure their products did not contain any hidden sources of palm oil.” explains market manager Sarah James.
The Grey Lynn Farmers Market is held every Sunday at the Grey Lynn Community Centre from 9am to 12:30pm, with a special outdoor market at 449 Richmond Road on the last Sunday of every month.
The Grey Lynn Farmers Market in front of Auckland Zoo on 17 November 2013 will have extended hours from 9am to 1pm.
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