MPOC’s Director of Science and Environment, Ruslan Abdullah highlighted that refining technology needs to be driven to remove harmful contaminants in palm oil products.
A study on palm oil by an Italian group led by Prof. Elena Fattore, concluded that there is no worrisome disadvantage from the consumption of palm oil as far as effects on blood lipids and CHD risk were concerned.
Speaking at the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC): Malaysia’s Palm Oil Industry Regulation and Quality Standard webinar , Ruslan emphasised that the nutritional value and the authenticity may not seriously affect consumer health, but certain contaminants are known hazard if consumed above certain limits.
“Consumers have the right of safe food without or at least not more than the unavoidable contamination level. Since then, extensive efforts were undertaken to develop validated analytical methods and mitigation strategies for both 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters as reported by EFSA in 2013,” he added.
According to the presentation by Ruslan, edible oils contain contaminants of various origins. The contaminants are either endogenous or exogenous and very varied as the contaminants can pose danger to consumers.
“Refining technologies have made it possible to reduce, avoid or eliminate undesirable compounds in edible oils which need a balance between removing contaminants with cost,” Ruslan concluded.
Malaysia has exported a total amount of 26,655,394 million tonnes amounting to RM72,766.09 million of palm oil and the products last year based on MPOC’s Monthly Palm Oil Trade Statistics 2020.
