MUMBAI, January 28: Manufacturers and marketers of plain edible oils and fats have been barred from making tall claims of purity and anti-cholesterol properties while marketing their products. However, nutritional contents will be allowed to be made public.The central health and family welfare ministry, in its notification dated November 27, 1997, says: "Usage of expressions such as ultra refined, micro refined, double refined, extra refined, super refined, anti-cholesterol, cholesterol fighter, cholesterol friendly, saturated fat free, rich in vitamin-E and such other expressions in the marketing of various edible oils will stand to be prohibited on or after the expiry of a period of four months from the date on which it (this notification) is published in the official gazette."
A new clause, 37D, will be introduced in the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) rules, 1955, which will be known as PFA (Amendment) Rules 1997. The bar will come into force from the date of publication of the rules in theofficial gazette.
The country consumes around 70-80 lakh tonnes of edible oil annually. With the rise in income levels, consumption of branded products has also risen.Some of the branded oils extracted from cheaper oil seeds like kardi, cottonseed and sunflower are marketed heavily using these claims. Also, the sale of these products is 70-80 per cent higher than oils extracted from relatively costly oil seeds like groundnut and coconut. The claims, and not the quality, has given them a marketing edge over others.
Once the notification is gazetted, the zing will be off from marketing of all sorts of edible oils and saturated fats including vegetable oil, vanaspati ghee and similar products which are nothing but identical edible products.
"The nutritional contents printed on the label or the packaging should be enough for the consumers to decide for themselves about the qualities of the oil," a trade source said.
The ministry officials feel the consumers are taken for a ride by these manufacturers andmarketers of edible vegetable oils and fats, by luring them through the exaggerated claims on the presence of heart-friendly properties in the advertisements.
Further, any edible oil -- available either through extraction or the expeller process -- does not have any differentiation as regards to its purity. Therefore, it is baseless to claim one oil is better refined that the other.
Hence, expressions such as ultra, super, micro and double-refined have no relevance as far as the purity of the oil is concerned.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
