PESHAWAR, March 7: Speakers at a day-long seminar titled ‘Food and Micro-nutritional Aspects of Red Palm Oil’ have said that greater use of red palm oil helps control vitamin-A deficiency, which is prevailing at an alarmingly rate among Pakistanis.

Participants of the seminar held here on Thursday were told that 60-80 per cent population of the country was consuming less than 70 per cent of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, though average consumption of oils/fats in Pakistan stood between 23 and 33gm a day.

They were also informed that the Malaysian Palm Oil Board had developed a commercial product of red palm oil, blending six to eight per cent of red palm oil with the standard vanaspati ghee to improve its quality and nutritional value.

Engineer Mohammed Tariq, director-general of PCSIR, Peshawar, speaking on the occasion said this new product would not only enrich vanaspati ghee with vitamin A and E, it would also help improve the shelf life of the product.

The event, jointly held by the Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) of Peshawar and Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), was aimed at introducing this new product and highlighting its micro-nutritional properties. It was also meant to pursue policy makers and food industry to facilitate and commercialize use of the oil to combat the vitamin-A deficiency in the country.

Dr S. Iqbal Shah, vice-chancellor, NWFP Agriculture University, said that though the vitamin-A deficiency was an established phenomenon in the developing countries, particularly in the Asian countries, it could be overcome by using good quality oil and ghee.

The seminar was consisted of three sessions wherein experts and agriculture scientists presented technical papers on the subject following which the participants exchanged their views on the use of red palm oil and its benefits.

Mr Shah stressed the need to build a strong bond between research and development organizations and universities to uplift education standards and research facilities in the country.

Earlier, in his address of welcome, Dr M. Jamil Qureshi, director of NIFA, Peshawar, appreciated efforts of the MPOB by providing funds for research to upgrade the living standards of Pakistanis.

Subject experts and specialists from different parts of the country and Malaysia presented their findings and views regarding the red palm oil. Mr Iftikhar Ahmed, regional manager, MPOB, Karachi, reviewed various issues regarding the oil.

Health and nutritional aspects of the oil were explained by Dr Kalyana Sundram, head of the food technology and nutrition unit, MPOB, Malaysia. Whereas findings of the research studies in Pakistan were presented by Mr Taufiq Ahmed and Prof Dr Masood Sadiq Butt of NIFA and the Agriculture University, Faisalabad, respectively.

Pakistan meets 65 per cent of its edible oil requirements from the imported commodity for which the country has to spend Rs30 billion a year. Of the total oil imports 70 per cent are made from Malaysia.