A WILDLIFE campaigners' bid to force food manufacturers to list palm oil on product labels has been rejected by federal authorities.

The campaigners blame the expansion of palm oil plantations across Indonesia and Malaysia for rainforest destruction that is pushing orang-utans towards extinction.

They had hoped that manufacturers would be required by law to declare the use of palm oil in their products  including ice cream, biscuits and margarine  but the campaigners' appeal to Food Standards Australia New Zealand was deemed outside the authority's jurisdiction.

Mornington Peninsula mother-of-three Amanda Enright was among those who applied to FSANZ to make palm oil use a labelling requirement.

She was motivated by a desire to "give consumers with ethical, environmental, religious or other reasons the ability to make informed choices and avoid certain foods".