African palm tree, and is currently the most consumed vegetable oil in the world. It’s almost certainly in the soap we wash with in the morning, the sandwich we have for lunch, and the biscuits we snack on during the day. Why is palm oil so attractive for manufacturers? Primarily because its unique properties—such as remaining solid at room temperature—make it an ideal ingredient for long-term preservation, allowing many packaged foods on supermarket shelves to have “best before” dates of months, even years, into the future.