Oil industry claims oil fortification with vitamins not useful for Indian cooking

PUNE: As the Food Standards and Safety Authority of India (FSSAI) moots fortification of vegetable oils, oil industry has opposed the moved, calling for study of the proposal in Indian context.

"In lndia, edible oil is mostly used for frying or cooking and as such, at the high temperature vitamins get lost or disintegrated and no virtue of the added vitamin is left in the oil, except burden on consumer in terms of cost with no real benefits," sated a release of the Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) of India.

Also, there are thousands of oil millers and vegetable oil refiners in small and medium scale who are not equipped for fortification of oil with vitamins.

"We are not in favour of fortifications, just for sake of fortifications unless the proper study is done in lndian context since the cooking and frying are the major operations carried out for preparing foods and also feasibility of fortification by the vegetable oil industry,"the release said.

FSSAI has decided to differ this issue.