Dalda
Dalda is a brand of hydrogenated vegetable oil popular in South Asia.
History
Until the early 1930s, the hydrogenated vegetable oil available in India was imported into the country by Dada & Co, which was controlled by a memon family from Bantva under the leadership of Hussain Kassim Dada. Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Co (today’s Hindustan Unilever Limited) wanted to start manufacturing hydrogenated vegetable oil locally. Dada & Co insisted that the branded product should reflect their name; hence Hindustan UniLever introduced the letter "L" for "Lever" into the name, and thus was born DALDA, one of the longest-living brands in India. Hindustan Vanaspati's "Dalda" product came to be synonymous with the genre, to the extent that the main style of hydrogenated vegetable oil is commonly designated generically as "vanaspati".
In India
Hindustan Unilever Limited has since sold the brand to Bunge Limited who now owns Dalda, offering new variants of Dalda in India. Bunge being the largest manufacturer of bottled oils in the world has now extended the Dalda brand name to its range of refined and filtered oils in India.
In Pakistan
In July 2004, Unilever Pakistan accepted the offer of Rs. 1.33 Billion for the sale of its "Dalda" brand to Dalda Foods (Pvt.) Limited a newly formed separate company. Dalda Foods (pvt) ltd took Dalda’s over 60 years of heritage combined with continuous innovation and in depth consumer understanding and maintenance of high quality standards has made it the leading brand in the Cooking Oil and Fats industry. Within a short span of 8 years Dalda Foods has managed to expand its Brand Portfolio through:
- the launch of Manpasand; to meet the needs of the vast middle-income segment. Manpasand Banasapti and Cooking oil were launched at end-2005 and has grown to become one of the most formidable players in the industry.
- to seize the opportunity arising from changing consumer lifestyles and increased health awareness; the company entered the pure-oil segment in early 2007.
- In a bid to expand capacity and further strengthen position in the premium segment and enter the lower-income segment; Dalda Foods acquired the brand “Tullo” & “Pride” from Wazir Ali Industries in January 2007
Today Dalda Foods has become one of the largest national FMCG organizations in the Foods industry in Pakistan, leading the local category of oil and fats. In Pakistan, Dalda has now diversified into Canola and Olive Oil product variants as well.
Hydrogenated oils are main source for Trans fats. Of all the fats, trans fatty acids are considered to have an adverse effect on blood lipids and immune system. Dalda is the only brand in Pakistan which produces a vanaspati (hydrogenated oils) which is the most popular brand in Pakistan, which happens to be VTF (virtually trans fats free). VTF means that content of Trans Fats in Dalda Vanaspati is less than 1% as against other ordinary vanaspati brands which contain around 20-25% trans fats.