MUMBAI: FDA on Thursday issued a statewide 14-clause compliance and enforcement order for the edible oil industry, binding the entire supply chain—from manufacturers and distributors to retailers, online sellers and the labelling industry.The order mandates sale only in “sealed, tamper-evident and fully labelled packages”, prohibiting loose or unpackaged oil. Manufacturers or distributors dispatching oil in loose form will be treated as primary violators.The action follows inspections that found unlicensed businesses, substandard oil exceeding acid value and trans-fat limits, adulteration with cheaper oils, unauthorised mustard oil blending, relabelling to conceal sources and dates, and repackaging of near-expiry oil.FDA commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said the order covers expeller and solvent extraction units, refiners, manufacturers of vanaspati, vegetable fats, bakery shortening, margarine and table spreads, besides importers and transporters.Maharashtra has 497 edible oil manufacturers—212 centrally licensed and 285 state licensed. Of 1,247 samples tested over the past year, 1,142 met standards, while 77 were substandard, 13 unsafe and 15 misbranded.Mundhe warned that malpractices disproportionately affect consumers buying oil in small quantities, citing risks from contamination and oxidative compounds in repeatedly heated oil.“The worst impact of malpractice in this sector is borne by ordinary consumers who purchase oil in small quantities. Argemone contamination has previously caused epidemic dropsy outbreaks resulting in heart failure, glaucoma and death. Lead leaches into oil from rusted and spot-welded cans, acting as a cumulative toxin that impairs brain development in children,” Mundhe said.“Trans-fatty acids and oxidative compounds formed in repeatedly heated oil are linked to atherosclerosis, hypertension, liver and kidney damage, stroke and an elevated risk of cancer.”
