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Use of innovative technology and the need for promoting rice bran as a premium product at global level was echoed at the two-day Global Rice Bran Oil Conference on the theme “Position, Promotion and Prospects of Rice Bran Oil”, which began in Mumbai on August 07, 2015.
Experts and industry leaders described the positive current status of rice bran oil as well as its future prospects. Rice Bran oil is fast emerging as a favorite cooking oil of the health conscious people across many countries in the world, they said adding that nutritionists and scientists had proclaimed the health benefits and nutritional over hand of rice bran oil compared to other edible oils. Many speakers touched on the topic of innovations in rice bran oil during the conference.
“In the coming years world will look India as a leading supplier of Rice Bran Oil and the punch line will be India is Rice Bran Oil and Rice Bran Oil is India” said Dr V Prakash, distinguished scientist from Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) while addressing the gathering. Industry and health experts from China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, India etc. assembled at the conference and discussed position, promotion and prospect of rice bran oil as healthy oil in the world.
Speaking about the importance of Rice Bran Oil Rice Dr V Prakash informed, “Rice Bran oil is obtained from the brown layer of rice, which constitutes about 5% of the paddy and is enriched in oil to the extent of 10-25%. Research institutes in India and abroad have found Rice Bran Oil as heart friendly oil with unique properties beneficial for maintaining good health. It is the only cooking medium which has an ideal SFA/MUFA/PUFA ratio and EFA ratio which is closer to the recommended levels of WHO. A number of scientific studies have confirmed that using Rice Bran significantly reduce the bad cholesterol without adversely affecting the good cholesterol due to presence of a unique component in this oil known as “ORYZANOL”, which is not found in any other vegetable oil.”
He also released a book titled “Recipe from Rice Bran Oil,” a handy book carrying the recipe of Indian, Chinese, Intercontinental, Italian foods authored by Celebrity Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi.
Eminent world authorities on rice bran oil like Prof. Xuebing Xu of Wilmar R&D Centre, China, Prof. Dr. Teruo Miyazawa of Tohuku University, Japan, Dr. Tran Thanh Hoa of Cai Lan Oil & Fats Industries Vietnam, Prasert Setwipattanachal of Surin Bran Oil Company Limited, Thailand, Ms. Fumi Tsuno, of M/s. Tsuno Foods Industrial Co. Ltd., Japan, were among the international leaders who participated and made presentations at the conference. The experts from India who participated included Dr V Prakash, Dr. B. Sasikeran, former director of NIN, Hyderabad, Dr. Shashank R. Joshi, Endocrine and Metabolic Physician, Dr. V. Chockalingam, leading Cardiologist from Chennai, Dr. R.B.N. Prasad, Chief Scientist & Head, IICT and Atul Chaturvedi, CEO, Adani Wilmar Ltd.
This is the second such conference, the first one hosted at China last year. The conference focused on issues related to rice bran oil including its nutrition & health benefits, its patronization by medical fraternity, regulatory issues, quality control, etc. Besides the scientists, manufacturers, doctors and nutritionists from across the world were also present. The conference was hosted by the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA), a premier association of vegetable oil industry and trade.
Sharing details of the conference, Dr. B.V. Mehta, Executive Director, Solvent Extractors’ Association of India, mentioned that “we expect this conference to further enhance the perception of rice bran oil as the healthiest cooking oil. Thanks to its low cost, everyone can access safe and heart-friendly cooking oil. We look forward to learn from the experiences from different countries that would be shared during the Conference”.
Dr. A. R. Sharma, president, International Association of Rice Bran Oil (IARBO) said “We had decided to organise international conferences on rice bran oil in different countries. We are indeed very much delighted due to overwhelming response to this conference. We have about 400 delegates and special invitees from India and overseas attending this conference. We have several exhibitors here with us, who will showcase their products and disseminate information on the latest technologies on rice bran oil and value added products developed by them.”
Pravin Lunkad, president, SEA, said “SEA has continued its crusade to encourage the production and use of Rice bran oil as a health oil. SEA has organised many national seminars and regional workshops in the last two decades. In 2001 it took a 6 member delegation to Japan to study the latest technology in RBO processing. All these efforts have resulted in the production of high quality refined rice bran oil and its consumption as a cooking oil for the health of the entire family has been progressively increasing. It is with great pride that I say that India produces the best quality of rice bran oil and it has emerged as the largest producer of this oil in the world. We have more than 150 solvent extraction units in India, producing rice bran oil, and the total production is 950,000 tons per annum.”
Globally, about 15 lakh tons of Rice Bran Oil is produced out of which India produces about 9.5 lakh tons per annum used for human consumption as cooking oil, blended oil and vanaspati. The current potential of rice bran oil in the world is 3.5 million tons, against the current production of 1.5 million tons. The major producers are India (9,50,000 tons), China (2,00,000 tons), Japan (80,000 tons) and Thailand (50,000 tons) India represents nearly 2/3 of the world production and is No. 1 in the world.