Engaging with Controversies in the Food System: Palm Oil

Learn how to assess the reliability of different sources of food information

Please note this course runs without facilitation

Consumers have never been confronted with so much food choice. Making a decision on what food to eat is affected by many factors, including media reports, diet research findings, and social media.

On this course, you’ll access leading research and expert insights to make sense of one of the most common food controversies - palm oil.

You’ll explore viewpoints of stakeholders and reflect on your own food preferences. By improving your knowledge of these food debates, you’ll build the confidence to make more informed decisions about food.

This course is for anyone curious about what their food contains, and what this means for their health and the environment. Professionals in the food and environment sectors will find this course useful for providing an up to date analysis of topical debates. Teachers may also find this course a useful resource for their students studying food science subjects.

If you’re looking to expand your knowledge on this topic, you might also find of interest the following EIT Food courses on food, nutrition and science communication:

• Food and Nutrition: The Truth Behind Food Headlines
• Understanding Food Labels
• Understanding Mediterranean and Okinawa Diets
• Nutrition for Health and Sustainability

• The controversy
• Welcome to the course
• What is a controversy in the food system?
• Exploring controversies
• Introducing palm oil
• Palm oil and its benefits
• Analyse & reflect
• The stakeholders
• Welcome to part 2
• Stakeholder perspectives - part 1
• Stakeholder's perspective - part 2
• Final test
• Analyse and reflect