FSSAI cracks down on adulteration; no more blending of other edible oils with mustard oil

In order to ensure the purity in the mustard oil for domestic consumption, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Thursday has clamped down on the blending of other edible oils with mustard oil. Blending mustard oil with any other edible oil will be prohibited in the country effective from October 1, FSSAI said in its order. The decision has been taken following the direction of the Central government to facilitate the sale of pure mustard oil for household consumption.

This decision by the FSSAI also comes amid the hike in prices of mustard oil which gave rise to speculations that other edible oil could be blended with mustard oil. The government has given direction to the FSSAI to look into the matter. Currently, the companies are allowed to mix 20 percent of other edible oil in mustard oil however, after the new regulation comes into effect from October, companies will be allowed to produce only pure mustard oil.

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“No manufacturing of blended edible vegetable oil with mustard oil as an ingredient will be allowed with effect from October 1, 2020. The Government of India, after due deliberation has directed Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to prohibit blending in mustard oil and to facilitate manufacture and sale of pure mustard oil for domestic consumption in public interest,” the FSSAI stated in its order.

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FSSAI collects 4,500 samples of edible oils

In August FSSAI had collected around 4,500 samples of edible oils from across the country for quality testing in order to curb the sale of adulterated cooking oil in the market. As many as 50 samples were collected from  Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata and six-eight samples each from cities and districts, other than the metros.

FSSAI said it has decided to intensify the crackdown on the sale of adulterated edible oil with pan-India surveillance of edible oil, both for the branded and unbranded oil samples. The samples were drawn from hypermarkets, supermarkets as well as retail and grocery stores. It also includes national and local brands. FSSAI has also directed state food safety commissioners to ensure that testing for oryzanol in mustard oil is carried out on regular basis at vegetable oil refineries and other edible oil production units with strict enforcement.

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