October, 2019 | The Health
Current News
05
MSPO certification to a sustainable future
This year is the 39th Palm Oil
Familiarisation Programme
But what makes this year different from
the rest?
Rosidah Radzian, Director, Product Develop-
ment and Advisory Services Division of the
Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) tells us how
Malaysia is ensuring its palm oil is different
from the rest of the world.
“This year’s POFP is very different because
we have launched The Health Plus pullout with
the objective to inform the public about the
benefits of palm oil.
“Even though Malaysians use palm oil, they
are not aware that it is palm oil they are using.
Therefore, it is our duty to ensure they know
about palm oil, its health benefits and are using
it on a daily basis.”
According to Rosidah, based on studies
done, palm oil is as good as any other oil. In
fact, it’s better because it has Vitamin E,
provitamin A which do not exist in other oils.
“I am really glad we can launch it this year
in conjunction with World Heart Day. Our
international participants will also get to know
Malaysia and our palm oil.”
What are the challenges faced by Malay-
sia’s palm oil?
“Initially it was the environment issues, nutri-
tion issues, and food safety as well. We have
managed to tackle the issue on nutrition - we
have done a lot of clinical trials and well as
animal studies. We are also ensuring all the
plantations in Malaysia including smallholders
are certified under our Malaysian standard -
Rosidah Radzian,
states that the
Malaysian palm oil
will be sustainably
produced thanks to
the MSPO certification.
Is palm oil
good for
us?
D
uring the 39th Palm Oil Familiarisa-
tion Programme (POFP 2019), The
Health met up with Malaysian Palm
Oil Board’s Head of Nutrition Unit, Principal
Senior Research Officer Dr Kanga Rani to get a
deeper understanding on how the familiarisa-
tion programme will help boost palm oil.
Why POFP?
“The Palm Oil Familiarisation Programme
is actually dedicated to educate and provide
information regarding the palm oil industry
and products related to palm oil. It involves
members of the ministry, locally and abroad.
Making
POFP
a reality
The Palm Oil
Familiarisation
Programme is a joint
programme by MTCP
and MPOB
T
We have regional officers worldwide, so they
will select who is most suitable to attend this
one-week course.”
The programme includes various activi-
ties with regards to educating industries and
policy makers about palm oil and its benefits.
he Palm Oil Familiarisation
Programme (POFP) is organ-
ised by the Malaysian Palm Oil
Board (MPOB) with the support from
the Malaysian Technical Cooperation
Programme (MTCP) under the Malay-
sian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Nik
Aznizan, Head of Technical Advisory
Services Unit of MPOB tells us how
this collaboration took place.
“MTCP is under the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. Every year, we have
to submit an application in order to
obtain the funding which thankfully
we did. We also got the allocation to
organise the Palm Oil Familiarisation
Programme which was co-organised
between MTCP and MPOB because
MTCP will cover developing coun-
tries. Meanwhile MPOB will cover
developed countries like Europe.”
According to Nik, this year the
programme will see a total of 34
international participants from 18
countries and majority of them are
sponsored by MTCP. How does MTCP
Dr Kanga explained
that palm oil is actually
beneficial to the heart
and helps raise the
good cholesterol.
go about selecting participants for
this programme?
“The selection criteria is if they
are interested to use palm oil or are
existing users of palm oil. There is
also a recommendation process from
our regional manager since we have
six regional offices all over the world.
They will recommend nominees, from
the industry as well as to the policy
makers.”
What does he hope to be achieved
at the end of the one week course?
“Hopefully they can be our ambassa-
dors and spokesperson when it comes
to the topic of Malaysian palm oil in
their countries because with this
programme, they will be able to see
our plantation and practices.” — The
Health
Nik hopes that at the end of this
programme, the participants will
be better learned about Malaysia’s
palm oil
The Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO)
standard.”
What is MSPO? It is a government based
certification, Rosidah explained.
It will be mandatory next year. Therefore,
this year they are gearing up to ensure all the
smallholders will also be certified under MSPO.
This is to ensure every drop of palm oil coming
from Malaysia is certified.
“Currently, MSPO is from Malaysia because
we want to differentiate our palm oil from
other palm oil producing countries. This is
because all palm oil users want to know that is
has been sustainably produced so the criteria
we placed in MSPO comply with international
standards.
“We are now in the process of developing
nanotechnology, by placing tocotrienol which
can be obtained from palm oil. This would make
it more effective. After all, oil palm is the only
fruit that has high levels of tocotrienol and we
can extract that and use it in products such as
supplements to better boost our health. Now
we are becoming an older nation, having a
convenient food source with high vitamin, high
phytonutrient will be good for us to maintain
a healthy lifestyle.” — The Health
“An introduction to the whole industry will
be given, right from upstream, midstream,
downstream and the overall economic per-
formance development.
“There will also be visits to the palm oil
refinery and the palm plantation. This is in
order to give the participants a clearer picture
on what the whole industry is about.”
She added the scientific conception about
saturated fats has always been that saturated
fats are bad.
“Now we are questioning the data that have
been produced in the fifties. Nowadays when
we look into evidence, there is no direct link
between saturated fats and cardiovascular
disease.
“You can’t possibly pin down one compo-
nent of food and say it causes cardiovascular
diseases. We have to eat a balanced meal and
it also depends on what kind of lifestyle you
lead.
“We have shown that palm oil helps our
heart and it also raises the good cholesterol.
It’s no different than any other oil.”— The
Health