History of Palm Oil – The MPOC Bloggers Meet

This was indeed a golden opportunity for few privileged food/lifestyle bloggers to meet and interact with the Minister of Primary Industries from Malaysia. This meet titled ‘Rendezvous with the Honorable Minister TERESA KOK SUH SIM – Minister of Primary Industries (Courtesy-Malaysian Palm Oil Council)’ on 31st July 2019 at The Taj Lands End, Bandra, Mumbai. The main objective was to brief and inform all the bloggers, details on the most versatile oil – Palm Oil.

History of Palm Oil?

Palm oil is extracted from the tissue of the fruit of palm trees; the scientific name is Elaeis guineensis. In its virgin structure, the oil is brilliant orange-red because of the high substance of carotene. Indonesia and Malaysia total upto 85% of global supply but there are 42 other countries that also produce Palm oil including India.

Palm oil is amazingly adaptable oil that has a wide range of properties and capacities which makes it so helpful thus broadly utilized. It is semi-solid at room temperature, it is impervious to oxidation thus can give items a more drawn out time span of usability; it’s steady at high temperatures thus gives items a fresh and crunchy texture; it’s additionally scentless and vapid. Palm oil is the most versatile oil.

Some Important Palm Oil Facts

• Did you know that Malaysia is the largest exporter of Palm Oil in the world?
• Palm oil fact is that it is semi-solid at room temperature. Yes, this characteristic is brought about by its approx. 50 percent saturation level. Palm oil (and its products) has good resistance to oxidation and heat at prolonged elevated temperatures. This makes it ideal for frying and cooking.
• In fact, in many instances, Palm oil has been used as 100 percent replacement for traditional hydrogenated seed oils such as soybean oil and canola. Products fried in Palm oil include Potato chips, French fries, Doughnuts, Ramen noodles and nuts.

• Palm oil is fortified with Vitamin E too, that is healthy and prevents the onset of strokes.

• You’ve probably heard that palm oil is bad for the environment. However the truth is it is not. Places like Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, MPOC, are fighting hard for you to create a more sustainable friendly environment for all humans, animals, and land.
• Not only the food industry, Palm oil is now used by about 50 per cent of other product manufacturing that  includes candles, cosmetics, washing detergents and even biofuels.

The Bloggers Meet

1. Ms Priyanka Patel introduced Dr Bhavna Shah – Country Representative, India and Sri Lanka – MPOC at first. Dr Bhavna Shah then spoke about the morning’s agenda. She explained a few facts and shared her views on Palm oil while addressing the bloggers attending the meet.

2. Later Honorable Minister of Primary Industries – Madam Teresa Kok addressed the audience  and answered questions with enthusiasm, shedding light on real facts and the history of Palm oil. It was a privilege to hear her speak, especially given her valuable time and also share her important life changing moments.

3. The discussion was then open to the panel of distinguished guests:

• Datuk Dr. Kalyana Sundaram – The CEO of MPOC
• Consul General of Malaysia in Mumbai – Mr Zainal Azlan Mohd Nadzir
• Dato’Lee Yeow Chor – Chairman of MPOC 
• Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir – Deputy DG Malaysian Palm Oil Board.
  They highlighted the advantages of consuming Palm Oil, its benefits and usage world over, making the event as interesting and involving as possible.

4. The history of Palm oil was presented through Videos and Slide Shows. It was extremely informative and factual. For more information, you can check their website – www.mpoc.org.my

5. The event ended with the Jingle making contest. Bloggers were assigned a task beforehand. They had to make a Jingle using the well known Nursery Rhyme ‘Twinkle Twinkle little Star” whilst adding facts, benefits and pointers on Palm oil.  The best ones were read out and three from the list were judged by the dignitaries as the winners. And guess what?? I was judged as one of the winners!!

Kudos to the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) for conducting various Bloggers awareness events across India in cities like Bangalore, Kolkata, Indore, Ahmedabad, Delhi and now in Mumbai too!

Palm oil is Nature’s Gift to Malaysia, and Malaysia’s to the World.

You can also read – Benefits of Fruit Infused Water