PROCESS OF REFINING A CRUDE PALM FRUIT OIL PRODUCT

The invention relates to a process of refining refined palm fruit oil products that yields a refined oil product having an exceptionally low content of 3-MCPD fatty acid esters. More particularly, the present invention provides a process of refining a crude palm fruit oil product, said process comprising the successive steps of: a) removing phospholipids and/or free fatty acids from a crude palm fruit oil product by subjecting the oil product to a pretreatment, thereby producing a pretreated palm fruit oil product with a reduced phospholipid content and/or a reduced free fatty acid content; b) simultaneously or sequentially contacting the pretreated palm fruit oil product with bleaching earth and a porous silica material to produce a bleached palm fruit oil product, said porous silica material having a surface area of at least 10 m2/g and being selected from the group consisting of silica, amorphous silicate, zeolite and combinations thereof; and c) deodorizing the bleached palm fruit oil product to produce a refined palm fruit oil product; wherein the pretreated palm fruit oil product is contacted with the porous silica material at a temperature of at least 95°C and wherein the pretreatment of the crude palm fruit oil product comprises the successive steps of: * mixing the crude palm fruit oil product with an aqueous liquid having an alkaline pH of more than 8 to produce an oil-and-water mixture; and * removing an aqueous liquid containing polar lipids from the oil-and-water mixture. The invention also relates to a refined palm fruit oil product obtained by the aforementioned process and to an edible product containing 1-80 wt.% of such refined palm fruit oil product. La présente invention concerne un procédé de raffinage de produits d'huile de fruit de palmier raffinée qui permet d'obtenir une huile raffinée ayant une teneur exceptionnellement faible en esters d'acide gras 3-MCPD. Plus particulièrement, la présente invention concerne un procédé de raffinage d'un produit d'huile de fruit de palmier brute, ledit procédé comprenant les étapes successives consistant à : a) retirer les phospholipides et/ou les acides gras libres d'un produit d'huile de fruit de palmier brute en soumettant le produit d'huile à un prétraitement, ce qui permet ainsi de produire un produit d'huile de fruit de palmier prétraitée avec une teneur réduite en phospholipides et/ou une teneur réduite en acide gras libres; b) à mettre en contact, simultanément ou séquentiellement, le pro