Process Technology for the Production of Micronutrient Rich Red Palm Olein

Crude palm oil (CPO) is the richest natural source of carotenes that are destroyed in the conventional processing. There is a growing demand for nutritional products containing bioactive constituents externally fortified or preserved through modified process. A commercially viable process for the production of red palm olein (RPOn) rich in carotenes, tocols and sterols has been developed at pilot scale. The process developed involved neutralization of CPO followed by crystallization at controlled rate of cooling and deodorization of the resultant neutralized and winterized palm olein (WPOn) under controlled conditions of temperature and high vacuum. Analytical data related to micronutrients at each process step was monitored. The RPOn thus produced had not more than 0.25% of free fatty acids (FFA) and it retained more than 80% of the carotenes, about 85% of tocols and 65% of sterols originally present in the CPO. The physico-chemical characteristics of RPOn revealed that it is nutritionally of superior quality compared to that of the commercial refined bleached deodorized (RBD) palm olein currently available in the market. The carotenes, tocols and sterols profile of RPOn by HPLC showed that they were retained in their natural forms.