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Maharashtra FDA tightens edible oils control across supply chain
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Monday, 24 August, 2026, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Shardul Nautiyal, Mumbai
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The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a detailed set of directives to prevent adulteration, unsafe handling and sale of edible oils, placing compliance responsibilities across manufacturers, distributors, transporters and retailers. The order focuses on traceability, sealed packaging, laboratory testing, packaging safety, storage and transportation, with particular attention to preventing adulteration of mustard oil with argemone and other prohibited oils.
The directives make a valid FSSAI licence or registration under the appropriate category mandatory for every food business operator dealing in edible oil, with the licence required to be prominently displayed at the establishment. Edible oil manufacturers must also maintain their own laboratory for sample analysis as a condition for eligibility for the licence, in accordance with Schedule 4, Part 2. An agreement with an external laboratory can supplement this requirement but cannot replace the manufacturer's own laboratory.
The FDA has prohibited the sale of edible oil in open or unsealed form. Oil must be sold only in sealed, tamper-evident and fully labelled containers. Where oil is transported or supplied in bulk, the producer or distributor dispatching it will be treated as the original violator and may be held liable under Sections 26 and 27 of the Food Safety and Standards Act. Retailers have been directed to reject consignments that are damaged or tampered with and report supplier details to the concerned Food Safety Officer.
The order also sets specific requirements for multi-source edible vegetable oil and mustard oil. Multi-source edible vegetable oil must be AGMARK certified and sold only in sealed packages of not more than 15 kg. The front of the package must carry the declaration “Multi-source edible oil”, along with the name and weight percentage of each constituent oil and the statement “Not to be sold separately”. Mustard oil cannot be used as a constituent in multi-source edible vegetable oil manufactured after June 8, 2021, and must be sold only in its 100 per cent pure form.
The FDA has reiterated that argemone oil, mineral oil, castor oil and tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate are prohibited in edible oil and their presence will render the food unsafe. Industrial trans fatty acids must not exceed 2 per cent of the total weight of oil or fat, while the acid value of refined oil must remain within 0.5 mg KOH/g. Heavy metals, aflatoxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, residual solvents and permitted oxidising parameters must remain within prescribed limits.
The regulator has also called for intensified seasonal surveillance for argemone adulteration in mustard oil during and after the monsoon. This is significant because argemone contamination has previously been associated with outbreaks of epidemic dropsy, a condition that can cause serious complications including heart failure, glaucoma and death.
Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe said the department's approach is aimed at ensuring that edible oil remains traceable and safe from manufacture through retail sale. “Consumers should not buy loose or unsealed edible oil. Edible oil should be purchased only in properly sealed and labelled packaging,” Mundhe said in his appeal to consumers.
Packaging compliance has also been brought under scrutiny. Materials that directly contact edible oil must be food grade and supported by a certificate of conformity from a NABL-accredited laboratory. Flexible packaging must comply with IS 14636, while tinplate packaging must comply with IS 1993/ISO 11949. Used tin cans cannot be reused. The overall migration limit for plastic packaging is 60 mg/kg, while the specific migration limit for plasticisers such as DEHP is 1.5 mg/kg, an important control because edible oils contain fat.
The order permits recycled PET only when sourced from recyclers authorised by the Food Authority and prohibits the wrapping of oily food products in newspapers. Fortified edible oils containing light-sensitive vitamin A must be stored and displayed in conditions that protect them from direct light.
Storage and transportation requirements require edible oil to be kept away from direct sunlight, heat and odorous or hazardous materials, while businesses must follow the first-in, first-out principle. Tankers previously used for hazardous substances, mineral oil or inedible goods cannot be used to transport edible oil. Tanker mouth seals must remain intact and their identification numbers must correspond with the relevant records.
The FDA's intervention is particularly focused on three risks associated with loose and poorly labelled edible oil: loss of traceability, deterioration caused by heat, light and air, and the possibility of adulteration with argemone oil, mineral oil or undeclared cheaper oils. The absence of labels, batch numbers, packaging dates and source information makes it difficult to identify the origin of unsafe oil and establish accountability across the supply chain.
The directives therefore seek to shift edible oil safety from retail-level checking to a supply-chain compliance framework, requiring manufacturers and distributors to maintain testing and traceability while retailers ensure packaging integrity and consumers avoid loose or unsealed products.
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