Ricebran and til oils -- both non-hazardous and edible -- are being mixed with mustard on a large scale following the sharp rise in prices of mustard seeds this season caused by the smaller crop, according to the oil miller.

If mustard oil is sold in its pure form it will have to be priced at more than Rs 68 a kg at the wholesale level and Rs 80 at the retail markets.

He said three kg of mustard seed yields one kg of oil. Mustard seeds are available at Rs 21 a kg and above in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and the other growing states in the south or north. At the Calcutta wholesale markets, a kg of mustard seed costs around Rs 22 to 23.

Thus, the cost price of one kg of mustard oil works out to about Rs 60 after deducting the gain of Rs 7 from the sale of the oilcake left after the crushing.

Afteradding the cost of crushing, power, transport and margins, the final selling price of one kg of pure mustard oil will work out to more than Rs 68, he said.

Further, if mustard oil is sold in its pure form, it would not have been available after July last because of inadequate production of seeds, he said. But, until last week, the oil quoted in the local wholesale market at Rs 52 a kg, which was far below the exact cost of uncontaminated mustard oil.

Ashok Sethi, president of the Eastern Indian Oil Industry & Traders Association, and Satish Goel, director of Srihari Agro-Industries Ltd, confirmed that the practice of diluting the purity of mustard oil with ricebran or til oil has been going on for several months.

However, both concerned have strongly criticised the adulteration of mustard oil with hazardous elements, which took several lives in northern India including Delhi and has created a nationwide scare.

The mixing business has increased the demand for rice bran and til oils as also theirprices. The price of ricebran oil has gone up to Rs 39 a kg from its normal level of Rs 28 while til oil also gone up to the same level from Rs 30 a kg owing to greater offtake by the oil crushing units, the operator said.

He said the ban on the sale of loose mustard oil, crushed in small ghanis, will tell on the thousands of ghanis operating in the state. It will also force consumers to buy packaged oils at a higher cost.