FSSAI proposes to do away with Agmark registration for some edible oils

For such edible oils, only FSSAI license will be enough and a separate Agmark registration won't be required, industry players

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has come out with a draft notification that proposes to do away with Agmark registration for edible oils sourced from multiple sources. This would facilitate ease of doing business and reduce the multiplicity of laws that govern the food sector.

For such edible oils, only FSSAI licence will be enough and a separate Agmark registration won’t be required, said industry players.

The draft notification was put out for public comments a few weeks ago for 60 days from its publication in the official gazette. The draft is called the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Amendment Regulations, 2023. The edible oil industry has whole heartedly welcomed the draft.

“This notification suggesting to do away with Agmark registration is simplifying things and is good for the industry and country. We wholeheartedly welcome this move,” BV Mehta, executive director of Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) told Business Standard. 

The FSSAI draft also aligns with the stated objective of one nation, one law. As for several food items, Agmark registration is not mandatory and FSSAI licence is considered a good enough benchmark for assessing quality of the product.

India’s average annual consumption of edible oils is around 23 million tonnes, of which 10-11 million tonnes comes from domestic sources. The rest is imported.

In this, the bulk of imported edible oils — roughly around 8 million tonnes per annum — is palm oil, while the remaining comprises soyoil and sunflower oil.

India first started importing edible oils in a big way in the 1990s. Since then, in the last 20 years (1990-91 to 2020-21), import has risen by over 160 per cent in volume terms. In value terms, it has risen from Rs 7,000 crore to almost Rs 1.17 trillion in 2020-21. In 2018-19, India imported its highest-ever volume of edible oils at 14.9 million tonnes.