Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)
Fried food has grown in popularity despite the low fat/no fat health trend. Frying is a popular traditional domestic cooking process, now universally used in the food industry to produce snacks and convenience fast foods. It is a quick and convenient technique of food production compared to other traditional means of cooking conferring unique sensory […]
The concept of fast food restaurants (FFRs) is not new as the culture of eating so-called fast foods has long existed in many cultures of the world. Satay (Malaysia and Indonesia), kebab and falafel (Arab countries) are some of the examples of fast foods. The first modern concept of FFRs was introduced in the 1950s […]
Dietary oils and fats have long been recognized as a macronutrient with the primary function to provide a concentrated source of energy for human metabolic processes. Fats have more than twice the energy density (9 calories g-1) of either proteins or carbohydrates (4 calories g-1). In addition, they impart palatability to the foods we eat […]
The prostate is the gland that produces semen (the fluid that carries sperm) and is essential for reproduction. About the size of a walnut, the prostate is located below the bladder and in front of the rectum. Cancer that begins in the prostate is called primary prostate cancer (or prostatic cancer). Prostate cancer may remain […]
Malaysian palm oil production increased from 11.355 million tonnes in 2003 to 13.976 million tonnes in 2004, i.e. by 4.65% (Table 1). This was a small increase compared to that of 2002 of 12.14% due to the palms being stressed after four years of high production. The lower increase in production was also due to […]
The advantage of energy dense fat supplements in lactation rations to enhance performance in modern dairy cows has been cited since the early 1930s but the detrimental effect on rumen fermentation, particularly fibre digestibility, required further research. Compared to triglycerides, free fatty acids, particularly unsaturated, have been shown to have increased digestibility in the small […]
The prices of oils and fats generally move in tandem with each another. This is evident from Figure 1 which shows their movements from 2002 to 2005. Due to their similarities in end-uses and characteristics, some of them are close substitutes and their prices become competitive with one another. Tough competition occurred in 2002 when […]
There are many reasons for changing the melting properties of fats and oils (and mixtures of these) ranging from increasing or decreasing the melting point (or cloud point) of an oil, to altering the melting profile of an oil mixture. Basically, five different methods of changing the melting properties profiles of fats and oils exist […]
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 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 […]