Opportunities for Geographical Traceability and Authenticity Testing of Sustainable Palm Oil
Umi Salamah Ramli*; Abrizah Othman*; Noor Idayu Mhd Tahir*; Nurul Liyana* and Rajinder Singh*Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is a highly productive crop with the highest yield of oil per unit area and lowest cost of production of all vegetable oils. The continuous rise in global production and demand for palm oil is reflected by the increase in land area cultivated with oil palm across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Expansion of oil palm plantings has created awareness about sustainable practices in oil palm cultivation and land use in order to ensure the preservation of tropical forests. Green certification schemes such as RSPO and MSPO advocate transparency in demonstrating that the oil palm industry is in compliance with established practices that ensure the production of certified sustainable palm oil. This has enabled new initiatives in the oil palm R&D sector to establish scientifically sound analytical systems that can support the sustainability certification schemes which require traceability throughout the palm oil supply chain. A reliable and robust traceability system is required to determine the exact location and land use history of the palm oil originating from the supplying countries.
Tags: DNA fingerprint, analytical techniques, chemical fingerprint, geographical traceability, ADULTERATION, palm oil
Author information:
* Malaysian Palm Oil Board, 6, Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.
E-mail: umi@mpob.gov.my