JAKARTA – The “no palm oil” labels on food products are seen as part of negative campaigns to weaken the competitiveness of the palm oil products, which command the largest market share in the global market of vegetable oils.
Food analyst from Medan-based Catholic University of St Thomas, Professor Dr. Posman Sibuea said that the Indonesian government should protect the palm oil industry from the black campaigns that could dampen the public interest to consume the palm oil products and derivatives.
“The ‘no palm oil” labels found on processed food products sold in Indonesia are aimed to create a bad image of the palm oil products. It is clearly against the government regulations, which include the law (UU) on foods and regulations issued by the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM),” he said during a webinar on palm oil contribution to fulfill the nutrition needs of Indonesia and the world, which was held by Sawit Indonesia magazine in Jakarta recently.
He said that the government, through BPOM, should have taken decisive action against the companies that attached the “no palm oil” labels on the food products.
According to him, the palm oil is the golden crop, which has much higher productivity and versatility as compared to other vegetable oils. Compared to soybean and sunflower, for example, the palm oil has four times higher productivity.
He pointed out that the negative campaigns against the palm oil are mounting because it has much cheaper price while better quality than other vegetable oils. “The palm oil is outcompeting the other vegetable oils. As a result, efforts are being pursued to weaken its competitiveness. That’s why palm oil is accused of causing obesity and heart disease and many food products are labeled with “no palm oil” as if the palm oil is not healthy food. Certain people in the EU are exaggerating the false claim to discredit the palm oil while hiding the downsides of the vegetable oils they produce in the region,” said Posman.
Purwiyatno Hariyadi, food analyst of Bogor-based University of Agriculture (IPB), said that palm oil also contributes as a food stuff to solve the world’s nutrition problem. But there are a number of challenges that should be tackled by the palm oil industry. The challenges include food safety, health issue and sustainability.
“We have to ensure that palm oil products and derivatives meet the requirements of food safety, as until now around 75-85 percent of the palm oil use is aimed to fulfill demand of the food sector,” he said.
He noted that any safety problems faced by consumers will certainly affect the global image of palm oil. Food safety has become a necessity.
“We have moral obligation to ensure that palm oil meets the standard of food safety. Such obligation is not only concerned with the local consumers, but global consumers as well,” he asserted.
According to him, Indonesia needs to design a roadmap on dealing with the issues of health in the palm oil industry. The government should also formulate a national program to ensure that palm oil products sold at domestic market should have low contents of 3-MCPD and GE, which are not good for human health.
Sri Raharjo, another food analyst from the faculty of agriculture engineering at the Yogyakarta-based University of Gajah Mada (UGM), said that the phytonutrients content of palm oil, such as tocopherol, tocotrienol, and carotene are beneficial to increase immune system during the pandemic.
R&D Product Application Manager of Apical Group, Fajar Marhaendra said that they are committed to producing food products with low trans and zero trans.
He said that currently they are developing the technology of enzymatic inter-exterification to produce more healthy products and environmentally friendly, but without fatty acid.
He added that on the aspect of sustainability, his company gives the best solutions to ensure that consumers purchase products that are sustainably certified. (*)
Source: ANTARA
