India’s position as world leader in production of quality rice bran oil, a fast emerging healthy cooking medium, was discussed in detail at Global Rice Bran Oil Conference held here on Friday. The two-day conference will conclude on Saturday.
Experts from India and other top rice producing countries like China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam were present as speakers discussing their country's rice production, position, and promotion and growth prospects of rice bran oil as a healthy oil. The highlight of the inaugural session was the launch of celebrity chef Harpal Singh Sokhi's book Exotic Cooking with Rice Bran Oil.
The event started with Pravin Lunkad, president, Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA), addressing the inaugural session. He stated, "It was a great pride that India produces the best quality of rice bran oil and it has emerged as the largest producer of this oil in the world. Rice bran oil has a total production of 950,000 tonne per annum."
He was followed by Dr A R Sharma, president, IARBO. He said, "IARBO has decided to organise international conferences on rice bran oil in different countries. The first international conference was organised in Wuhan, China, in May 2014. This is the second international conference on rice bran oil and with your support we will indeed organise many more across the world. We have today about 400 key 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 latest technologies on rice bran oil and value-added products developed by them."
Others who spoke included P Goenka, director, 3F industries Ltd; Prof. Xuebing Xu, GM, Wilmar Global R&D Centre, China; and Dr V Prakash, scientist, CSIR. Prakash stated, "In the coming years, world will look to India as a leading supplier of rice bran oil."
While, the Session 1 had country presentation on future prospects and current scenario of the industry, the Session 2 had various inputs on how rice bran oil will inculcate wellness and health in a person’s lifestyle. Another key aspect was a detailed insight on the nutritional significance of oil and its blends with pharma, food and edible oil industry. At the end of the session, stress was on making changes in lifestyle to inculcate the use of rice bran oil.
All in all, the conference discussed important topics such as nutrition & health benefits, patronisation by medical fraternity, regulatory issues, and quality control.
