By R.J. Foster, Contributing Editor
Since the year 2000, palm oil imports into the United States have increased from around 200 million pounds per year to more than 2 billion pounds per year. Reasons for this growth include improvements in perception, advances in production and expansion of product application. Results of this growth can be seen worldwide, providing opportunities for market and product development.
Market trans-formation
"This significant increase in demand has largely been fueled by the efforts of food manufacturers to remove trans fat from their products," says Bob Wainwright, technical service director, dressings, sauces and oils, Cargill, Minneapolis.
In the late 1950s, consumers were told that saturated fats should be avoided in order to reduce the risk of heart disease, and "tropical fats"—palm, palm kernel and coconut oils—eventually fell out of favor in the United States. Manufacturers seeking saturated fats’ functionality and stability turned to oils modified by hydrogenation. Through the 1990s, a growing number of studies indicated a connection between these trans fats and increased LDL (low-density lipoprotein), or “bad" cholesterol. In 2003, FDA finalized the Trans Fatty Acids in Nutrition Labeling rule, requiring manufacturers to declare trans fats in their nutritional information by 2006. Wainwright recalls how manufacturers quickly began seeking means to redevelop their products as trans-fat-free. “Palm was leveraged in many reformulations because its melting properties and stability align well with demands imposed upon partially hydrogenated shortenings for a variety of product executions," he says.
Pressing matters
Originally discovered in Western Africa, the oil palm tree’s ideal growing conditions are found in Indonesia and Malaysia. Gerald McNeill, PhD, vice president of research and development, Loders Croklaan, Channahon, IL, suggests the agronomics of palm plantations differs from typical annual crops. “The lifetime of a palm plantation is about 20 years, until the yield of fruit is too low to be commercially viable. The plantation is then cut down and replanted with new seedlings and the 20-year cycle starts again." Young trees bear fruit within 30 months.
“A major advantage of palm-oil production is the very high yield of palm oil per acre of planted trees," McNeill adds. “A palm plantation produces almost 10 times more oil per acre than soybean oil." With global demand for palm oil surpassing that of soybean oil, growers are not relying entirely on high yields to meet future needs. “Longer-term research in Malaysia has identified new varieties of palm trees that have the potential to produce up to 50% more oil than currently possible using the best current agronomic practices," he says. "This process could take up to 20 years to fully convert existing plantations completely with new varieties."
Oil palms produce small, typically 1-in. to 1.5-in., fruits with a small kernel inside. The “fruitlets" grow in groups sometimes referred to as “fresh fruit bunches," or FFBs. “On the average, FFBs weigh around 45 to 65 lbs. and contain 1,500 to 2,000 fruitlets." Wainwright says. “The fleshy mesocarp of the fruitlets is filled with palm oil; hence, some manufacturers label palm oil as 'palm fruit oil' on their ingredient legends."
