Labelling row stalls Canola oil imports

Importers of Canola oil are faced with an uncertain future after the Food Safetyand Standards Authority's (FSSAI) order asking them not to import the edible oil under the brand name.

The authority has insisted that the every container of Canola oil must be labelled "imported rapeseed-low erucic acid oil". It has also asked importers to print an ingredient list with "edible vegetable oil" (not Canola oil) and include it in the label.

It is not only Canola oil which is facing the brunt of the FSSAI's labelling orders. Containers of apples and other fruits, olives, beer, wine, spirits, chocolates, fresh meat, seafood, pasta-sauce, mayonnaise, candy, juices, chips, spices, soymilk, gluten-free products have been blocked at various ports.

Importers say it would be difficult for them to sell Canola oil with the "imported rapeseed-low erucic acid oil," label. They have pointed out to the FSSAI that there are several examples in the Codex standards of edible oil, where the biological and technical term is different from the one used in the country. For example, Arachis oil (peanut oil, ground nut oil) is labelled groundnut oil.

"Therefore, the insistence to follow the technical term alone, when the principle is not applied to any other oil, is discriminatory, excessively severe and unjustified," the Forum of Food Importers have said in a letter to FSSAI.

So far, the FSSAI has not relented and there is no apparent move to revise the order. The standoff has proved costly for the importers as hundreds of containers of Canola oil have been detained across various ports. The importers of Canola oil have incurred heavy damages and if the containers are not cleared soon, it would be difficult for them to sell the oil as it is a perishable product. This would inflict heavy losses on importers.

Efforts to reach FSSAI for comments did not yield results. The Forum of Food Importers have also pointed out that Canola oil has been imported and sold in India since 2007 and it is a well-known product. It is one of the largest selling oils in several countries, including US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, China and Pakistan.

Importers have deployed large chunks of funds to educate consumers and to ask them to label it as another category of rapeseed would lead to severe difficulties.

"The term "rapeseed oil, however, is most commonly associated with high erucic acid version," according to the letter to FSSAI.

"We would also like to add that Canola oil is not a term coined by canola importers to import cheap rapeseed oil and mislead the consumer by terming it Canola oil to make abnormal profits by giving it a fancy name," the forum said in its letter.