Palm Oil in Balaji Wafers is an approved ingredient and the product is safe to consume.

Balaji Wafers is a popular Indian snack brand that began in Rajkot, Gujarat, founded by the Virani brothers in the early 1980s. It has grown into one of India’s largest wafer and snacks manufacturers. Balaji Wafers exports its products to multiple countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Europe. 

Recently, a video of a person burning a piece of Balaji Crunchem wafer to show how it catches fire and drops of oil falling from it is going viral on social media. The user had expressed his concern that the product is overloaded with palm oil which is harmful for human consumption. 

However, Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. Palm oil is an approved ingredient when used within the prescribed limits and its presence in Balaji Wafers do not make the products unsafe. 

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Fact Check- 

First, we looked at the list of the ingredients used in various Balaji wafers. We found that most of the products contain a lot of ingredients like potatoes, common salt, dehydrated vegetable powders, sugar, spices (cumin, chilly, parsley, ginger, cinnamon etc). All the products mentioned the use of Palmolein oil as one of the ingredients under vegetable oils. 

How safe is Palm Oil in foods?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had found that during high temperature refining of palm oils two contaminants 3-MCPD esters and glycidyl esters can form. These substances are considered harmful to the kidney and have potential link cancer. The FDA is actively researching these contaminants to better understand their occurrence in foods and to develop methods for reducing their levels during oil processing. 

Palm oil is approved for use in food. The FDA recommended the manufacturers to minimize the presence of these contaminants to ensure safety of the consumers.

Several studies were conducted to check the safety of palm oils, palm olein etc after large scale frying. It was found that when these oils are used in factories for making potato chips or french fries, they stay in good condition even after many hours of continuous use. These oils were found to show low damage, low acidity and stable quality. In fast-food cooking, these oils remain safe and usable even after several days if it was used under acceptable smoke point value. 

Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) has clarified that Palm oil is safe for people to consume when used within recommended amounts. According to many scientific studies, it does not cause heart disease or cancer. Palm Oil Council had also pointed out that it contains antioxidants like Vitamin E, and the concerns about processing contaminants like 3 MPCD are low and within international safety limits

Conclusion: 

Fact Crescendo found the claim to be misleading. It is true that Balaji wafers contain palmolein oil as an ingredient but this oil has been found to be safe by many food safety regulatory bodies.