Inside BENEO’s new pulse plant: pioneering sustainable protein from faba beans
FSSAI has decided to remove the Boudouin and Halphen tests, which are required for blended edible vegetable oils.
The country’s apex food regulator has also issued a draft notification, inviting comments and suggestions from stakeholders for the revision of special provisions relating to the sale of vegetable oils and fats. Members have to respond within a period of one month.
As per the revised regulation, under the clause titled special provisions relating to sale of vegetable oil and fat, the following has been substituted;
Vanaspati, interesterified vegetable oil or fat, bakery shortening, bakery and industrial margarine, table margarine and fat spreads shall be prepared from any of the edible vegetable oils whose standards are specified under the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011, or from any other edible vegetable oil with the prior approval of the Food Authority.
In recent years, food analysis has improved dramatically and many types of adulterated food are now unlikely to escape detection.
Extensive research has been done in the field of vegetable oil analysis to test for authenticity and chemical properties.
According to the draft notification, revised regulations would pave the way for the food business operators (FBOs) to prepare Vanaspati easily, as it will not restrict the preparation for the list specified earlier.
Further, as various suitable tests are available for blending of edible oils, Boudouin and Halphen test have been removed.
The notice added that the issue concerning the adulteration of blended edible vegetable oil will be addressed once the notifications of the fatty acid profiles of different vegetable oils get notified.