Comments
G Kamala Vardhana Ro, Chief Executive Officer of FSSAI (Food and Safety Standards Authority of India), has cautioned the edible oils industry against counterfeit products. “India witnesses a lot of adulteration in food products, this needs to be stopped,” he said.
Addressing the seventh International Conference on Rice Bran Oil (ICRBO)-2023 here on Saturday, he called for increasing the production of oil crops and extraction. “This will help reduce prices and enhance consumption of rice bran oil,” he said.
“India has a huge edible oils import bill. The government is increasing excise duties on some edible oils to encourage the use of domestic oils. Rice bran oil can help bridge the gap,” he said.
The three-day ICRBO 2023 has been jointly organised by the International Association of Rice Bran Oil (IARBO) and the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA). About 500 delegates from the industry and research institutions attended the conference, besides delegates from China, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam and Bangladesh.
The conference is aimed at taking stock of rice bran oil production in the world and preparing a plan of action to promote the ‘healthy oil’.
Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary (IT and Industries, Telangana), said the State had become a leader in paddy production in the last eight years.
“The State has chalked out plans to divert some paddy area to oil palm and cover 20 lakh acres in the next few four years. It will help the country reduce dependence on imports,” he said.
In recognition of their services to the rice bran oil ecosystem, ‘Lifetime Achievement Awards’ were conferred on O. P. Goenka, who is considered the father of Rice Bran Oil In India; V. Prakash (Scientific contribution for promoting RBO as edible oil); R B N Prasad (for his contribution in the development of enzymatic degumming process); A R Sharma (for his pioneering role in promoting the branded RBO; Xuebing Xu (for contributions in value addition); and Riantong Singanusong ( Founder of IARBO and ICRBO and Product development of Rice Bran (Thailand).
“There are some challenges that the industry needs to address. We need to develop technologies to reduce losses in storage and processing, and minimise the loss of micronutrients,” Ashok Sethia, President of IARBO, said.
India’s contribution
B V Mehta, Secretary-General of IARBO, said India was the second largest producer of rice in the world, and the largest producer of RBO, with a production base of 1.05 million tonnes.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.