CPOPC Responds to the New Indian Express
Executive Editor of Newindianexpress.com
Mr. Rajesh Kumar R
Dear Mr. Rajesh Kumar,
The Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) is an intergovernmental organisation representing palm oil producing countries, established on 21 November 2015. There are three (3) Member Countries namely, Indonesia, Malaysia and Honduras, with Indonesia and Malaysia as the founding members. The Secretariat of CPOPC is based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
CPOPC is concerned with the responses to the Interview: ‘Opt for olive, coconut, mustard oils, but avoid palm oil’: Ex-AIIMS director published in the New Indian Express on 31 October 2023 and updated on 2 November 2023, which are factually wrong and misleading. In this regard, CPOPC is writing to provide facts and science-based evidence to correct the misinformation of the article.
Q. Oil is an inseparable component in our kitchen. However, should we be concerned about blended cooking oils?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), healthy oil should have the following three characteristics:
1. The ratio of saturated, mono- and polyunsaturated should be 1:1.5:1;
2. The ratio of essential fatty acid, linoleic acid (omega-6) and linolenic acid (omega-3) should be 5–10:1; and
3. Contain natural antioxidants.
However, there is no single oil and fat that can meet all the above characteristics. Blending has been known as one of the simplest processes to improve the properties of edible oils. Therefore, the response showed the ignorance of the respondent on blended cooking oils.
More importantly, the regulation of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) permits an admixture of any edible vegetable oils where the proportion by weight of any edible vegetable oil used in the admixture is not less than 20 per cent.
Q. There was a shift in increased use of refined oil after the 90s. Now refined oil is being questioned for its quality and people are switching back to traditional oils. Is there a health risk associated with refined oil?
Based on the information available on the webpage of the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 540,000 deaths each year can be attributed to intake of industrially produced trans-fatty acids. High trans fat intake increases the risk of death from any cause by 34%, coronary heart disease deaths by 28%, and coronary heart disease by 21%. This is likely due to the effect on lipid levels: trans fat increases LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels while lowering HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. Trans fat has no known health benefits.
https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/nutrition-trans-fat
It is trans fatty acids produced through partial hydrogenation process that have been proven to have detrimental effects on health and not as mentioned in the article. Therefore, the information provided in the article are factually wrong and misleading about refined oil.
It has been well documented that refining of crude vegetable oils is conducted to remove unwanted minor components and impurities to improve the quality of the refined vegetable oils. According to FSSAI, refined oils conforming to FSAAI standards are safe for health and refining increases storage stability.
Q. Is adulteration the only problem with refined oil?
The information on adulteration in the article does not represent the global vegetable oils industry and creates a negative perception of refined vegetable oils. The illustration provided is primarily attributed to unscrupulous businessmen who adulterate high quality oil with used frying oil which has potential health risk for consumers. There are regulations for food safety and quality including legislative authority for enforcement purposes in each country to prevent these irresponsible activities. However, the enforcement of the regulation is subjected to the relevant authority in each country. In this regard, the situation referenced cannot be used to describe the vegetable oils industry in general.
Q. The word 'refined' gives an impression that the oil has been filtered with enhanced quality. Is it a misleading claim?
The response showed the lack of knowledge and understanding of the refining processes of vegetable oils. This is taking into consideration in general, most vegetable oils are subjected to physical or chemical refining to produce refined vegetable oils. In addition, most palm oil is refined using the physical refining with the objective to remove undesirable components or impurities such as free fatty acids, oxidation products, phospholipids, odoriferous components and trace metals. The stages of physical refining of crude palm oil are degumming using phosphoric/citric acid, bleaching using bleaching earth/activated carbon and deodorisation involving steam distillation. On the other hand, hydrogenation of vegetable oils is a chemical reaction between vegetable oils and hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to convert the unsaturated fatty acids in vegetable oils to saturated fatty acids. The response showed a clear misinformation and factually wrong definition of refined oil.
Q. As per your experience, which oil should be used for cooking and what should be avoided?
Palm oil is one of the 17 major oils and fats recognised by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO). Palm oil contains a balanced proportion of saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids, namely 50% saturated fatty acids (mainly palmitic acid, C16:0) and 50% unsaturated fatty acids (mainly oleic acid, C18:1 (40%) and linoleic acid, C18:2 (10%). Palm oil is mainly consumed as a cooking oil in the liquid form, palm olein, which contains a higher amount of unsaturation.
Scientific evidence from credible research institutions worldwide has proven the nutritional benefits of palm oil. There is no adverse effect from palm oil and palmitic acid on cholesterol. The nutritional studies in Australia, India, China and Malaysia showed that palm oil does not raise cholesterol levels and behaves more like a monounsaturated oil, like olive. Numerous human clinical trials have shown that palm olein and olive oil have similar effects on fasting plasma lipids. Please refer to Figure 1 on the human studies on long term intake of palm olein and unsaturated oils. The negative allegation and response to this question is misleading and misinformation as well as discriminating against palm oil without substantiated by scientific evidence.
Source: MPOB (2017) Pocketbook of Oil Palm Uses
Figure 1: Human studies on long term intake of palm olein and unsaturated oils
As a conclusion, CPOPC hopes that articles including responses for interview containing facts and information supported by science-based evidence and verified by subject matter experts to be published instead of negative claims and allegations. CPOPC is ready to engage with the author or relevant persons to provide scientific evidence and information related to the oil palm industry.
The Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries
7 November 2023
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