Which supermarket aisles have the most palm oil?

60%

of biscuit and cake labels we could read name palm oil (797 of 1,339)

18%

of all 31,508 labels we could read name palm oil

49%

of ice cream labels don't let you tell (68 of 140)

Aisle by aisle

Biscuits and cakes are in a different league. Of the 1,339 labels in that aisle where we could tell, 797 name palm oil, which is close to three in five. Snack bars come next at 38%, then chocolate at 27%. The reason is texture: a biscuit cream, a coating or a bar filling needs a fat that stays solid at room temperature, and palm does that cheaply.

At the other end, the drinks aisles barely use it: 9 labels out of 1,231 in juice, 3 out of 321 in soft drinks and 7 out of 430 in coffee and tea. When we opened those few products one by one, most turned out not to be drinks at all. They were lemonade flavoured fruit chews, a cookie sold under the Monster name and a matcha mochi dessert, filed on the wrong shelf in the source data. A plain carton of juice or a can of soda has no reason to contain palm oil, and in our records it doesn't.

Why ice cream is the hardest aisle to read

Ice cream has the largest share of labels we cannot decide on: 68 of 140. Most of those (46) list mono- and diglycerides, also written as E471. It is an emulsifier that keeps ice cream smooth, and it can be made from palm oil or from other fats. The label almost never says which, so we don't pretend to know. If palm oil matters to you, ice cream is the aisle where it is worth asking the manufacturer.

Crisps have the same problem on a larger scale: 310 of 1,875 labels in the chips and snacks aisle leave the frying oil unclear, usually with a line like "vegetable oil" and no plant named.

Brand by brand: chocolate, biscuits and bars

Inside the sweet aisles, the brand tells you more than the product type. The chart below covers every brand with at least 20 products we could decide on in the chocolate, biscuit and cake, and snack bar aisles.

Every KitKat label we could read names palm oil (43 of 43). McVitie's (91%), Oreo (88%), Snickers (86%) and Cadbury (82%) are not far behind. Lindt sits at 26%, Green & Black's at 14% and Waitrose's own label at 10%.

Supermarket own brands land in the middle: Aldi 45%, Tesco 43%, Sainsbury's 38%, Marks & Spencer 24%. So a supermarket's own biscuit is not automatically the palm free option, while the two premium chocolate brands in the chart mostly are.

What this means in the shop

If you are avoiding palm oil, the biscuit aisle is where reading the label pays off most, and the drinks aisles are where you can mostly stop worrying. A label that names its fats, such as "sunflower oil, cocoa butter", answers the question in seconds. A label that says "vegetable fat" or lists E471 does not, and the manufacturer is the only one who can.

Every product counted here has its own page showing the line on the label that decided it. Start from the palm oil free checker, or read what "palm oil free" on a label actually promises.