Menkop Teten Says Red Food Oil Can Be An Alternative For Migor: The Price Is Affordable

JAKARTA - Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs Teten Masduki said that red food oil can be an alternative for healthy cooking oil because it contains natural compounds for palm oil, but at affordable prices.

The red food oil factory in Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatra, which is managed by cooperatives as an initiative of the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs through a partnership between the Pujakesuma Cooperative and PT PTPN II, was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo on Thursday.

During the inauguration ceremony, Teten said that the red food oil factory in North Sumatra was the first factory in Indonesia to produce new products for red food oil.

Teten said that currently more than 40 percent of oil palm plantations in Indonesia are owned and managed by self-help farmers.

However, he regretted that for decades oil palm farmers have been faced with the issue of fresh fruit bunch prices (FFB) which are up and down and full of uncertainty.

"On the other hand, we also face the supply and price of cooking oil in the market which is also very dynamic. In fact, once at one time it was scarce in the market with soaring prices," said Teten in a press release from the ministry, quoted from Antara, Thursday, March 14.

He hopes that in the future every 1,000 hectares of oil palm plantations managed by cooperatives will be equipped with a red food oil factory as a complementary infrastructure.

"The disbursement of palm oil into red food oil by cooperatives aims to ensure that farmers are more prosperous, ensuring the sustainability of healthy cooking oil supplies at affordable prices for the community," he said.

Teten said the red food oil factory in North Sumatra was one of three pilot projects (pilot project) for red food oil in collaboration with PTPN.

He said that apart from the three pilot projects, the Kemenkop UKM is currently also preparing an independent scheme of cooperatives for oil palm farmers in a number of locations, such as in Tanah Laut Regency, South Kalimantan; Pelalawan Regency, Riau; Sekadau Regency, West Kalimantan; and other provinces to replicate red food oil factories in North Sumatra.

Red food oil or refined palm oil is a product of CPO which after the distillation process is not continued to the next processes. This oil has striking characteristics of bright color and strong aroma.

The striking color of red food oil comes from palm oil which is indeed dark red, because during the production process, red food oil does not go through distillation processes such as ordinary palm cooking oil.

According to the Palm Oil Research Center (PPKS), as quoted on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, red food oil still maintains the content of phytonutrient compounds.

The content includes carotene as a source of vitamin A, tokoferol and tokotrienol as vitamin E, and squalene. For this reason, red food oil has the potential to be used as functional food, one of which is as one of the food ingredients that is anti-stunting.

Oleic acid and linoleic acid in the content of red eating oil function for the formation and development of the brain, transportation and metabolism in children. Red food oil is also suitable for menumis for food ingredients, salad dressing, raw materials for margarine and shortening.