The Vanaspati Manufacturers Association of India (VMAI) has alleged that crude palm oil is being processed on a large scale into refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm oil and RBD palmolien and illegally sold as vanaspati.
Since the RBD palm oil resembles vanaspati, it is being offered to manufacturers of bakery products as a cheaper substitute.
This practices does not only tarnish the image of vanaspati as a product but is also crippling the economic health of the industry and posing a health hazard for the unwary consumers, the VMAI has stated in a press release issued, here, today.
The VMAI has said that if the misuse of crude palm oil continued unchecked, "vanaspati units which are already facing unfair competition from the cheap vanaspati imported from Nepal under the Indo-Nepal trade treaty will be compelled to down their shutters".
The association has demanded that the government should restore the restriction on the import and use of crude palm oil which was in place prior to the last revision of the customs duty.
Only those vanaspati units which had the captive hydrogen generation facilities were allowed to import crude palm oil earlier.
It has pointed out that the Vegetable Oil Products (regulation) Order, 1998, also stipulates that crude palm oil cannot be imported by anyone except the vanaspati producers having captive hydrogen production capacity. The VMAI wants this order to be enforced to protect the interests of the vanaspati industry.
