Edible Oil is in the limelight today. "Reduce Consumption", says the government.
The recent problem relates to import of edible oil costing us foreign exchange.
But there is a nuance to it, that not everyone is talking about.
The 3 main edible oils that are being imported - palm, soybean & sunflower. Palm oil is 60% of the imports. And 70% of that goes into food industry - food processing, restaurants, and even households which use blended oil.
Families that use refined oil might be consuming palm oil, because palm oil (which is cheaper) is blended with other oils. Blending is a common practice. Regulation allows "multi-source edible oils", as long as it is labelled as such.
So why is Palm oil in so much demand that we are importing so much of it?
Because it is CHEAP!!
BTW Palm oil is also blamed for deforestation of rainforests across the world from the Amazon in South America and rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Sadly, CHEAP trumps everything else - quality, environment, local farmers..
But Palm Oil is not the only edible oil. So not every edible oil is the problem here.
Coconut, groundnut, sesame, mustard oils are not the problem. Because these are rarely imported. They are in fact the solution! So please continue to use them.
Especially the organic cold-pressed oils. Why?
- They are locally produced by the farmers. Organically grown seeds. Milled locally. Because the process of cold-pressing does not require heavy machinery and excessive heating that is possible only in large factories.
- Small amount of organic cold-pressed oil has more flavour. Because it is purer, not blended with other cheaper oils. So you get the taste and texture when you use just half of what you normally use. So you consume less oil, and save more money!
- They are safer and healthier, because the processing does not use solvents like Hexane used in the refining process of regular oils, which are known to be harmful to health.
Granted, organic cold-pressed oils are costlier.
Like we say in Bio Basics, food and health are not about prices. It is about priorities. And each consumer has to decide fully conscious of the consequences.
This is an opportunity (and the need of the hour!) to reduce our dependence on Palm oil and imported edible oils, and take to locally produced safer and healthier organic cold-pressed oils.
Speech over. Your choice. You decide.
