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With concern over vegetable fat, ministry clarifies, no specific limit set by FSSAI
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Friday, 12 September, 2025, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
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As the concern about vegetable fat and its limit in food products is growing amongst the people, the Union Health Ministry has stated that there is no specific limit set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), except for chocolate.
The Union Health Ministry, in a written statement to Parliament, has said, “As per the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, there are no specific permissible limits of vegetable fat prescribed for processed foods. However, in chocolate 5% of vegetable fats is allowed and it is aligned with Codex standards.”
However, class titles may be used under the FSS Regulations specified under the FSS Labelling and Display Regulations.
These class titles include edible vegetable oil (to provide name of the specific edible oil such as mustard oil and groundnut oil), edible vegetable fat (to provide type of vegetable fat like interesterified vegetable fat, fractionated fat, hydrogenated oils, partially hydrogenated oils, margarine and fat spreads, such as mixed fat spreads, vegetable fat spreads) and animal fat/oil other than milk fat (to provide name of the source of fat, pork fat, lard and beef fat or extract thereof shall be declared by specific means).
Further, as per sub regulation 5(3)(b) of Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, it is mandatory to mention the total fat (g), saturated fat (g), trans fat (other than naturally occurring trans fat) (g) and cholesterol (mg) on the label.
As per the Union Health Ministry, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) through its Oils and Oilseeds Sectional Committee, has formulated Indian Standards on edible oils and fats, which specify the quality and safety requirements.
These include the specifications for the limit of moisture content, colour, refractive index, specific gravity, saponification value, iodine value, acid value, unsaponifiable matter, polenske value, flash point, residual hexane, limits of aflatoxins and heavy metals.
“As per BIS Rule 2016, all Indian Standards are subject to periodic review, at least once in five years of its publication or review, to determine the need for revision, amendment, reaffirmation or withdrawal. Accordingly, the above Indian Standards are periodically reviewed by the concerned sectional committees to update them as per latest advancements,” the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, the Government also shared that Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has no data on the extent, volume and pattern of usage of vegetable fats including hydrogenated oils and palm oil in various categories of processed foods.
"Ultra processed foods are usually High in Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS) and they tend to be high especially in saturated and/or trans fats, salt and added sugars which are detrimental to health," the ministry observed while adding that commonly, palm oil (high in saturated fats) and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (high in trans fats) are used as the source of fat in processed foods to increase their shelf life.
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