Do you
know that one species affected by palm
oil production is the orangutan population. In some regions, oil palm
cultivation has resulted in deforestation, leaving species that lived in virgin
forest without a home. Some palm plantations have been developed without consulting
local communities over the use of their land, or even caused them to be
forcibly displaced. The orangutans are
three extant species of great apes native to Indonesia and Malaysia. Orangutans
are currently only found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra.
Pic
credit : https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/
Palm oil is an
edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of
the oil palms, primarily the African oil palm Elaeis guineensis, and to a
lesser extent from the American oil palm Elaeis oleifera and the maripa palm
Attalea maripa. Palm oil is naturally
reddish in color because of a high beta-carotene content. Along with coconut
oil, palm oil is one of the few highly saturated vegetable fats and is
semisolid at room temperature. Palm oil
is a common cooking ingredient in the tropical belt of Africa, Southeast Asia
and parts of Brazil.
In India, we have a
different one – the ‘palmolein’. The fad
for this oil was so high a couple of decades ago, that the Govt. was importing
them in bulk tankers and redistributing to households, who were using this oil
moving away from dalda vanaspathi, groundnut oil, gingelly oil, bran oil and
other cooking oils. Now refined oils like sunflower, olive, safflower, avocado
have all taken over. There were concerns
that at any point time, the palmolein available in the market far exceed the
quantity of oil that had been importing, hinting that there was heavy
adulteration in this brand.
Palm oil and palm
olein originate from the same plant, a palm species known as E. Guineesis. Palmolein
has different characteristics than the palm oil, most notably that it remains
completely liquid at room temperature. It is highly heat resistant, similar to
palm oil, and it also resists the formation of breakdown products during frying
and increases the shelf life of many products. The Palm Olein Import Scam refers
to the alleged irregularities in the import of palmolein by the K.
Karunakaran-led United Democratic Front government of the state of Kerala, through the Power and Energy Limited Company.
The Kerala government selected Power and Energy Limited arbitrarily without
inviting tenders, allegedly at an inflated price and at an excessive service
charge and in violation of central and state government procedure and this scam
was first brought to light officially by a report of the Accountant-General of
Kerala in July 1993, a Comptroller and Auditor General report in February 1994,
and subsequently by a report of the Public Undertakings Committee of the Kerala
Legislative Assembly in March 1996.
Although palm oil
and palm olein are produced from the same plant and share many similar
properties, the main difference between them is their chemical state at room
temperature. Lliquid palmolein is considered the "gold standard" and
is the most widely used oil for frying in the world. Now comes the news that Palm oil is to be
removed from all own-label food sold by Iceland amid concerns over its impact
on wildlife. The oil is used in a huge number of products on supermarket
shelves ranging from bread to soap.
In some advanced
countries, the demand against palm oil has come as it is voice against the
destruction of tropical rainforests across south-east Asia, which threatens the
existence of endangered orangutan in
Indonesia. The Deeside-based chain - the
first major UK supermarket to ban palm oil - said it was used in more than half
of its products, from biscuits to soap. Iceland said growing demand for the oil
was devastating tropical rainforests across southeast Asia. The frozen food
specialist said it was alerted to the environmental challenges that palm oil
presented by campaigners at Greenpeace. The ban only applies to Iceland-brand
products, meaning other products sold by the retailer may still contain palm
oil.
Iceland managing
director is quoted as saying that there
was "no such thing" as properly sustainable palm oil. Millions of
acres of forests across Indonesia have been burned to make way for plantations
producing palm oil. Orangutan populations have been particularly devastated by
the resulting habitat destruction. Iceland has now vowed to remove all palm oil
from its own-brand food by the end of 2018.
Interesting !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
10th Apr
2018.
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