Nutella Causes Cancer?

A European report claims that refined palm oil, a key ingredient in Nutella, could be a possible carcinogen. A carcinogen is a substance that is capable of causing cancer in a living tissue. In May 2016, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) claimed that palm oil is potentially carcinogenic when it’s processed at high temperatures.

Glycidyl fatty acid ester (GE) is at the center of most of the cancer concerns, and GE is only produced when palm oil is heated above 200 C (392 F). Turns out babies and children are the ones at greater risk.

The cause of this is because Palm oil is a lot cheaper than vegetable oil. Palm oil is the cheapest oil in the market. Ferrero uses about 185,000 tons of palm oil. A switch of palm oil could cause from $8 million to $22 million each year. Nutella has also gone down about 3% in profit since the EFSA claimed that palm oil is more carcinogenic than other oil, and could cause cancer.