17/09/05 NEW YORK, (Bernama) -- There are greater opportunities for palmoil (including in partnership with other oils) as one of the replacementoils for partially hydrogenated oils following the current attention ontrans fatty acids and the pending US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA)trans fatty acids rule, says Datuk Haron Siraj, chief executive officer ofthe Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council (MPOPC).

"We are already seeing more palm oil products as ingredients in trans freeproducts including cookies, margarines, breakfast cereals, shortenings andsnacks to name a few and not forgetting red palm oil that can be appliedin shortenings for example to fortify bakery products with Vitamins A andE.

"The products were reformulated with healthier fatty acid profiles andwithout the sacrifice in taste, form and texture," he said at the recent4th Global Oils and Fats Forum in San Diego, California.

Haron's paper was on "The World Oils & Fats Scenario: The Future Positionof Palm Oil or Palm Oil's Context".

Speaking of the many challenges the food industry faced with theintroduction of the new trans fat labeling requirements in the U.S. fromJanuary 2006, he said,""We are most pleased to see participants from allover the world coming together to share knowledge and experience in timeswhen the food industry is faced with new challenges."

Trans fat, linked with heart diseases, is on the red-alert list of varioushealth authorities in the United States.

The Los Angles-based American Palm Oil Council, the U.S. chapter of theMPOPC said the event was highly successful. Mohd. Salleh Kassim, the APOCexecutive director, said a total of 115 participants attended under thetheme of "Quest for Healthy Oil Blends in Food Applications".

Kassim said product developers were given a good insight of whatformulations can be considered for their trans-fat alternatives from thestandpoint of manufacturing flexibility and in terms of acceptable oilsand oil blends and price trends.

Participants were also updated on the latest research work undertaken byMPOB and universities in the US as well as new formulations for trans fatreplacement, production trends and prices.

Two other MPOPC members, Haji Nasrullah Khan and Er Kok Leong attended theforum along with Dr. Kalyana Sundram of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board(MPOB), U.R. Unnithan from Carotino Sdn Bhd, Chiang Kit Yee of Unitata,Koh Pak Boo of Trans Event, Pang Poh Ling of MPOPC, and Robert Reeves andJames Fry from LMC, UK.

Haron also told the forum that more than 142 nutritional studiesevaluating palm oil and its components, mostly conducted by the American,European and Australian institutions of high repute, had documented aclear scientific observation: when palm oil is incorporated into the dailyhuman diet, where the fats are consumed at World Health Organisation (WHO)recommended levels, palm oil does not increase the total blood cholesterolor the 'bad' LDL-cholesterol levels.

Palm oil is essentially rich in both the saturated palmitic (45 percentand monounsaturated oleic acid (40 percent).

Haron said the latest authoritative review of saturated fats published inthe American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (issue Sept. 2004), whichmaintained that palm oil is regarded as palmitic-oleic rich oil and not assolely palmitic acid rich oil.

This natural combination of palmitic acid and oleic acid in the palm oilmakes palm oil a neutral fat in relation to cholesterol metabolism andregulation.

Hence, a palm oil rich diet does not constitute a risk for coronary heartdisease and is not deleterious to human health, he stressed.

--BERNAMA