Maharashtra FDA Bans Loose Edible Oil Sale Across Supply Chain
The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday issued a statewide 14-clause compliance and enforcement order prohibiting the sale of loose or unpackaged edible oil, mandating that all edible oil be sold exclusively in sealed, tamper-evident, and fully labelled packages.
Under the new directives, the FDA has brought the entire commercial supply chain under strict scrutiny, including manufacturers, distributors, retailers, online sellers, and the labelling sector. Authorities stated that manufacturers or distributors dispatching oil in loose form will be treated as primary violators of the regulations.
FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe confirmed that the scope of the order covers expeller and solvent extraction units, refiners, and manufacturers producing vanaspati, vegetable fats, bakery shortening, margarine, and table spreads. The mandate additionally applies to all edible oil importers and transporters operating within the state.
The regulatory crackdown follows department inspections that identified several critical violations in the market. Officials discovered unlicensed businesses and substandard oil products that failed quality tests by exceeding statutory acid value and trans-fat limits.
Inspectors also recorded multiple instances of food adulteration, including the unauthorized blending of mustard oil and the mixing of cheaper base oils. Other violations involved relabelling products to conceal their original manufacturing sources and production dates, as well as repackaging oil nearing its expiration date.
Official data shows that Maharashtra has 497 edible oil manufacturing units, consisting of 212 centrally licensed facilities and 285 state-licensed units.
Testing records over the past year indicate that out of 1,247 edible oil samples analysed by the FDA, 1,142 samples complied with official food safety standards. However, laboratory analysis flagged 77 samples as substandard, 13 as unsafe, and 15 as misbranded, prompting the statewide enforcement drive.
