Two of Cheshire’s biggest attractions, Chester Zoo and the Chester Food & Drink Festival have teamed up to make Cheshire’s foodies aware of the dangers to animal stocks around the world of palm oil and how they can help, with some selective buying and a little more knowledge.
Festival Chairman and Taste Cheshire CEO, Stephen Wundke believes this is an important partnership and its time we all understood a little more about the food chain and the damage it can do as he explains, “palm oil is used in so many day to day products that I am not sure people understand how widespread this use is. It is used in foods and confectionary, personal care and cosmetics, biofuel and energy, animal feed and pharmaceutical. We are not against the use of palm oil because it is a more responsible product than other vegetable oils that it replaces in terms of its efficiency. However, the world demand for this product is so high that vast acres of natural habitat for many of the world’s most important animals, such as orangutans, tigers, elephants and rhinos, are being deforested in order to satisfy the massive demand across the globe. Chester Zoo, a world leader in environmental issues and animal sustainability approached us and asked if we would attempt, through both our festival and the over 40,000 foodies attached to Taste Cheshire, to help make people aware of both the issue of palm oil and how customers can get behind sustainable palm oil projects and food products. We felt this was something we needed to be involved in and we will be working hard with Chester Zoo to create awareness of palm oil at both the festival and over the next year with Taste Cheshire.
Speaking on behalf of Act for Wildlife, the conservation campaign set up by Chester Zoo Catherine Barton, Field Conservation Manager said. “We are delighted to be working with both The Food and Drink Festival and Taste Cheshire and believe most strongly that educating people about sustainable palm oil to safeguard animals around the world from unsustainable practises is vitally important. We will be at the Festival over Easter and we would encourage as many people as possible to come and visit us to understand more about palm oil and how they can help us make Chester the world’s first sustainable palm oil city.
The Chester Food and Drink Festival takes place over Easter at Chester Racecourse. Tickets are on sale now on line with a 25% discount when buying in advance. Children under 12 are free, as is parking at the event. For more information go to www.chesterfoodanddrink.co.uk.
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