History of Palm Oil
Colombian and Ecuadorian Palm Oil Harvesting Does Not Involve Destroying the Rain Forest
As a result of its unique geographical location, the new palm oil grown in Colombia and Ecuador does not destroy rain forest. Indeed, in the region known as the ORINOQUIA in western Colombia and Ecuador there are over 20 million acres of savannah where new palm oil plantations are being developed. The savannahs are land covered with light shrubbery or grass. The net effect of these new plantings is to increase the amount of oxygen generation in that land. A good part of that land is being used today as grazing pastures for cattle, at a very low animal-per-acre ratio. Such cattle farming is being substituted for cattle feed lots. Other parts of the savannahs are simply uncultured land up to now.
Q&As About Palm Oil
Is Oil Palm harvesting an environmentally friendly process?
Yes, plantations are managed in such a way as to maximize long-term sustainability. Methods include zero-burning policies, special planting techniques, and use of all waste material for powering the facility.
What food products contain palm oil?
Palm oil's semi-solid properties make it a favorite ingredient among the food processors. From palm oil you can have unlimited oil fractions for use of any kind of food applications. The oil could to be incorporated into a wide variety of food products which include cooking oils, margarines, noodles, shortenings, vegetable ghee, bakery products, chocolates, hot beverages, coffee creamers, and ice cream.
Due to its excellent stability, palm oil is the No. 1 choice in the world as frying oil for foods such as instant noodles, French fries, potato crisps, doughnuts and fried meats and snacks.
The natural solid nature of palm stearin make it most ideal for formulating solid fats such as vanaspati, margarine, shortenings and other bakery fats. More importantly, these palm fats are not hydrogenated and therefore are trans-fatty acids free.
How is Palm oil Harvested?
Oil palm is the only fruit that can give two types of oil, extracted from the fruit of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) which are chemically different.
Palm oil comes from the mesocarp (flesh of the fruit) and the lauric palm kernel oilfrom the kernel at the fruit's core. The two oils are separated in the oil palm bunches by the thick shell of palm kernels.
Semi-solid at room temperature, these oils or fats can be fractionated into solid and liquid fractions known as stearins and oleins respectively. They can also be processed through physical or chemical refining to yield either refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) or neutralized, bleached and deodorized (NBD) palm oil and palm kernel oil. Combinations of these processes lead to various types of palm oil and palm kernel oil products
Where did Palm oil originate?
Palm oil is produced from the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis which is found in Africa, South East Asia, and Latin America. It was first introduced in the early 1870's as an ornamental plant. In 1917, the first commercial planting took place, laying the foundation for the vast oil palm plantations and palm oil industry. The cultivation of the oil palm rapidly increased beginning in the sixties, to reduce the country's dependence on rubber and tin.
Are the palm oil plantations cutting down the rainforest to plant oil palm trees?No. In Colombia and Ecuador , oil palm plantations are set up without having to cut down native forest areas and are built in regions which were once used for farming. Colombian and Ecuadorian palm growers are committed to caring for the environment and have adopted a range of good practices which allow them to maintain a competitive edge and promote sustainability, while complying with international standards.
How are the oil palm plantations helping the environment? Oil palm is planted in a triangular pattern, with a distance of around 9 meters separating each other. Trees are planted in straight lines and can cover tens, hundreds, and even thousands of hectares. As palm trees grow and mature, the area becomes like a forest where a variety of flora and fauna live. As a result of photosynthesis, palm trees can fix large amounts of carbon gas and in such a way help to lessen the effects of global warming. Micro-climates form around palm plantations which contribute to the sustainability of other crops and benefit communities living nearby.
Colombian and Ecuadorian Palm Oil Harvesting Does Not Involve Destroying the Rain Forest
History of Palm Oil
Palm Oil: A Bad Rap in the Eighties.
As palm oil gained popularity in the U.S. in the eighties, a campaign was waged against all tropical oils - not by the scientific community or the FDA - but by American manufacturers of hydrogenated vegetable oils. Much of this negative advertising was eventually stopped, by law, but not before it successfully destroyed demand for tropical oils in this country. Ultimately, popular opinion forced U.S. food manufacturers to switch to synthetic hydrogenated oils. These hydrogenated oils are supplied, not surprisingly, by the very same companies who started the campaign against palm oil.
While this was a very good deal for hydrogenated-oil manufacturers, it was a bad deal for American consumers - and a bad rap for palm oil. As a result, added palm oil tends to raise a red flag in the minds of consumers who formed strong opinions about it during that era.