CDB to launch quality assurance logo for coconut oil

Kochi, Mar 9 (UNI) The Coconut Development Board (CDB) is to shortly launch a 'quality assurance logo' for coconut oil to address the problems of adulteration and poor quality, Board chairperson Minnie Mathew said today.

Talking to reporters on the occasion of the re-launch of copra futures trading by the National Multi-Commodity Exchange (NMCE) of India here, Ms Mathew said that the quality control laboratory of the Board was ready and will become operational soon.

''The laboratory will give a quality assurance logo. We will encourage manufacturers to go in for the logo, though it will not be mandatory to begin with,'' she added.

About the earlier efforts to launch futures trading in copra and coconut oil, Ms Mathew said these had failed to take off, partly due to problems related to adulteration and delivery practices.

The copra futures trading launched by the NMCE would take care of these problems, NMCE managing director Kailash Gupta said.

It would register only those mills which could assure the 'fair average quality', he added. The samples would be tested both at the time of receiving and delivering at the Central Warehousing Corporation, a CWC spokesman said.

Stating that the Coconut Development Board was laying emphasis on product diversification, Ms Mathew said it had already helped set up five tender nut processing plants. Coconut powder, vinegar and chips were among the other derivatives being encouraged by it.

''Nearly 92.8 million nuts were processed for other products besides oil last year,'' she added.

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