Cooking oil companies push for litre-based packing

The cooking oil industry has demanded that the government make it mandatory to pack cooking oils in litres and not only in grams. The practice of different weights of cooking oil packs with near identical packaging is leading to consumer confusion and distorted price comparisons.

It has also led to unhealthy competition and sellers engaging in unfair trade practices, the industry body Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) said in a letter to the central government.

"We want the government to make it mandatory to pack cooking oils in litres as consumers are used to buying cooking oil in litres. On appearance the pouches of different grammage look like 1 litre pouches and hence the consumer can get cheated," said Angshu Mallick, CEO, AWL Agri Business Limited.


"There is proliferation of non-standardised oil packs such as 800 grams, 810 grams, 870 grams etc. resulting in consumer confusion and distorted price comparisons. The absence of label details and near identical pack sizes often mislead consumers and make it difficult for them to make informed choices," said SEA in the letter.