Appetite for Destruction – The Palm Oil Diaries

The palm oil industry has papered over vast swathes of the planet, much of it valuable and ecologically diverse. Forty million tonnes are produced annually, and it can be found in 50% of all packaged foods.

This shocking doc investigates what has catalyzed this new industry and the social and environmental impact of it’s exponential growth.

Palm oil has dominated the environmental press in recent years, amid claims of deforestation and the detrimental effects of monoculture. Michael Dorgan set out to investigate these claims.

In Guatemala, the local Mayan population are forced into selling their land to the palm companies. However, palm oil has changed the face of rural Colombia, and helped the population recover from the brutal civil war that tore it apart.

But what effect is it having on us, the unwitting consumer? Dorgan travels to Sweden to take part in an experiment to determine the effects of palm oil on the body. The results are shocking.

“Appetite For Destruction” opens the lid on the global palm oil industry, its local effects on the producing communities, and the health implications for those who ingest it.