New "Food" Forum on FTP

Hi all -- I'm so happy this website (and this forum, specifically!) exist -- here's my first post:

There have been some recent news stories about some negative effects of new palm oil plantations -- specifically, the loss of tropical rainforest habitat, including deminishing orangutan habitat in some areas.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Story?id=3969647&page=1

I also found out the palm oil
is NOW being substituted into foods in place of transfats, so w/the recent
CA ban, I'm sure there'll be even more coming into our foods soon. I
know there are always less-than-desirable issues with sustainable agriculture -- it might be better for
some of the countries to have this commodity, but I'd hate to lose more
orangutans over it, etc.

So I've been checking labels, and a few food products in my house have palm oil -- it's very hit-or-miss (e.g., some types of triscuits have it, some don't).

I made a few phone calls to the 800 numbers of some of these companies a
short time ago... The calls were quick -- just a couple minutes to get
through to a customer service rep, and then basically saying:
I noticed their product has palm oil, and that I learned recently that some palm oil plantations have led to the loss of tropical rainforests and orangutan habitat. Do they know where they get their palm oil from?

I've gotten a few bizarre answers, but one hopeful one (Skippy Peanut Butter) pointed me to this:
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil http://www.rspo.org/

So, now I can try to refer to it when making more phone calls (I think
calls are easier, but you can also leave comments on some company
websites).

I hope RSPO is truly good, and not just an eco-front... the documents online read well.

Cool, perhaps we'll see some new activity! 

I'm sad to report that 3 local 'organic' places in town have failed this summer.  I'd have to attribute it to too high prices, and general lack of interest.  Couple that to the fact that the food just wasn't that good.

The last place that closed had a tabuoule sald that tasted like damp straw @ $6/4oz and you can see that it was no great loss.  The Balsamic roasted veggies were mostly zucchini, a few onions, and 1 or 2 mushroom slices... same price, no spice!