Nutella Banned Over Palm Oil Cancer Concerns – But Nutella Fights Back About Palm Oil Cancer Claims

There’s talk of Nutella being banned, and Nutella lovers are freaking out. As reported by the Independent, certain sellers in Italy have banned Nutella from their stores, including Coop, which is the largest supermarket chain in Italy. The retailers have banned Nutella as a precaution with all the talk about Nutella’s palm oil ingredient potentially being a cancer-causer, so folks are wondering if Nutella will be banned in other stores. They are also wondering if Nutella is safe to eat and if palm oil causes cancer or not. That article, titled “Nutella maker fights back against fears over cancer-causing palm oil,” has been shared more than 13,000 times on social media.

As reported by the Daily Mail, Nutella is a well-loved chocolate and hazelnut spread that contains palm oil to help Nutella spread smoothly. Whereas palm oil can help to make Nutella spread easily and gives Nutella the smooth texture that so many people love, the fears that Nutella could potentially be cancerous have brought Nutella a lot of attention online. The palm oil is a loved ingredient within Nutella because it helps to give Nutella a long shelf life that helps Nutella represent one of those spreads that can sit around as long as peanut butter and make for an easy spread to slather on bread, crackers or other foods.

Pringles con nutella ??? pic.twitter.com/oVQvudYZGa

— Lore Roble (@Loreroble_) January 12, 2017

Yet the new report from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which has called palm oil potentially more cancerous than other oils, is bringing concerns about Nutella. Especially since the World Health Organization has already raised similar concerns about palm oil. But Nutella is fighting back, claiming that Nutella’s manufacturer Ferrero utilizes palm oil in a manner that doesn’t cause cancer. Nutella’s maker also claims that taking away palm oil from Nutella means Nutella wouldn’t be Nutella anymore — at least not as Nutella lovers like it, in its spreadable form. Palm oil also represents an inexpensive oil — which means if Nutella switched to using a more expensive oil, Ferrero could spend millions more per year to make Nutella.

Although the thought of cancer being the result of eating palm oil is a very serious concern, some folks are joking on social media that death by Nutella — like death by chocolate — would be a good way to go, as seen in the above tweet.

Meanwhile, Nutella’s sales have taken a hit, as reported by Reuters, because of their competitors promoting their products as being free of palm oil. Although the EFSA and the WHO warned about potential issues surrounding palm oil, they did not go as far as telling the public to stop eating palm oil. And though the ban of Nutella has occurred in some Italian grocery stores, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t banned Nutella and palm oil as of this writing. Expect more “palm oil-free” labels to likely show up in the wake of the palm oil Nutella melee.

Nutella isn’t the only popular product that uses palm oil. Nestle also uses palm oil in some of their foodstuff, like chocolate, snacks, and margarine. However, the world’s love affair with Nutella and thoughts that palm oil could potentially cause cancer have gotten some of the following reactions on social media.

Kotone Melendez: “WON’T STOP ME FROM EATING NUTELLA (or bacon)”

nat: “Something else died today, profits for Nutella.”

timwongster: “So u telling me i can’t eat nutella anymore?”

$$heen: “OK so you ban nutella but you still cant legalize marijuana? tf is wrong with you.”

Scotch Man XOXO: “Apparently everything causes cancer but cigarette & Whiskey still freely available but Nutella to b banned #Nutella.”

[Featured Image by Antonio Calanni/AP Images]