The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Wednesday said, 4845 samples of edible oils have been collected as part of a nationwide surveillance campaign to check on edible oil adulteration. It had earlier directed state food safety departments to conduct a surveillance drive to check on adulteration in edible oils, presence of trans-fatty acids in hydrogenated oils, crack down on sale of loose edible oil and prevent besides check on sale of multi-source edible oils without proper labelling.
“This massive surveillance drive was carried out between August 1, 2022 to August 14 2022 across the country with a total of 4845 surveillance samples of vegetable oils, multi-source edible oils, vanaspati etc., across 35 States/ UTs. The Commissioners of Food Safety in all States/UTs were directed to lift surveillance samples of these products in a staggered manner from the markets so that the sample base is wider and representative of all Food Business Operators (FBOs)/ Brands being sold therein,” the food safety authority said in a statement.
Intensive surveillance
The samples have been sent to accredited food testing laboratories for analysis. FSSAI said, any suspected case of adulteration will be followed with drawing of regulatory samples for taking legal action against such FBOs. It added that food safety departments of all states and UTs carried out intensive surveillance to track down errant FBOs.
“Further, as a specific focus of the campaign to check sale of loose oil in the country, a huge quantity of loose edible oil i.e., more than 27,500 l has been seized across the country on the spot during the course of inspection,” it added.
“The campaign was monitored by all State Food Safety Commissioners and FSSAI at the highest level and daily updates were being given by the States/UTs via press release. This also reflected the seriousness of the efforts of the Government to come down heavily upon the FBOs who are found indulging in any sort of adulteration in the edible oils,” FSSAI’s statement added.