Supply and Disappearance: A Review

Malaysian production of palm oil in the year 2003 continued to be on the up trend when it reached 13.35 million tonnes from 11.9 million tonnes in 2002, an increase of 1.4 million tonnes, or 12.14% (Table 1). Monthly movements in production for 2003 showed that production for the first two months of 2003 was […]

Prices of Selected Oils and Fats in 2003

The market for selected oils and fats has been bullish since 2001 as the prices of these oils and fats gradually accelerated until 2003. The average price of refined bleached deodorized (RBD) palm olein increased from US$ 317 t-1 in 2001 to US$ 485 t-1 in 2003 (January-November) (Table 1). The palm kernel oil price […]

An Introduction to Random Interesterification of Palm Oil

Interesterification (IE) is the process of re-arranging the fatty esters within and between triglycerides resulting in most cases, a change in the physical properties of the oil/fat. It is a useful modification method to give the oil/fat the functionality required for a finished product. However, because of several reasons, IE has not been given due […]

Applications of Palm-based Interesterified Fats

The physical characteristics of oils and fats are determined by their chemical properties, i.e., the chain length and unsaturation of the fatty acids as well as their distribution among the three hydroxyl groups of glycerol. By changing them through hydrogenation, fractionation, blending or interesterification (IE), the physical properties can be changed as well, hence, widening […]

Trans-Fatty Acids – An Update on its Regulatory Status

Trans fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acids containing at least one double bond in the trans configuration, formed when edible oils are partially hydrogenated. This process is normally done to increase the melting points of the fatty acids to enable liquid oils to be used in solid fats formulations such as margarines, shortenings, vanaspati and […]