Production numbers of ghee declined significantly for the first time since FY09 on a year on year basis for 7MFY18. It appears that Punjab Food Authority (PFA)’s ban on manufacturing, sale and purchase of vanaspati ghee due to it hazardous health effects is starting to have effect, despite the fact that the ban will come into effect in 2020; since the announcement in October last year, ghee’s production numbers have seen a downward trend.
At present there are 150 ghee and cooking oil manufacturing units with a combined capacity of more than 4 million tons. Ghee production in FY17 was more than 3 times cooking oil production. Ghee has trans fat which is more attractive for food producing purposes as it is more tolerant to repeated heating, enhances texture of processed foods and increases their shelf life. However, it is also known to cause obesity, diabetes, heart diseases and cancer, among other diseases.
A policy brief by WHO indicates legislative limits of 2g of trans fat per 100g of fat or oil. A study published in the Pakistan Journal of Nutrition placed total trans fat content in different brands of ghee as ranging for 5.4 to 33 percent. The higher incidence of trans fat was the impetus behind PFA’s ban.
However this is refuted by Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association’s Chairman Abdul Waheed who in a conversation maintained that ghee is as healthy as cooking oil. However, he conceded that ghee production numbers are declining because people are opting for cooking oil.
Other industry sources confirm that the market for vanaspati ghee is declining because people are switching towards cooking oil as health awareness increases. This trend was also indicated by the Pakistan Edible Oil Conference held earlier this year which predicted that edible oil consumption is expected to rise by 3 to 5 percent on a yearly basis.
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