Exercise prudence in choosing oil’

While a range of edible oil used for cooking is available in the market at various prices, experts urge the public to exercise prudence in choosing better products in terms quality. Since oil being one of the important ingredients in our food preparation, the quality of the oil cannot be compromised at any cost.

Agappai Muthukumar from the city, who has been into sensitising the health benefits of millets, says that good quality of oil cannot be purchased at a price lower than that of the raw materials required to produce the oil and people should be wary of adulterated oil. It takes at least 2kg of groundnut to get one litre of oil. At present 1kg of groundnut costs between Rs 80 and Rs 85. A simple maths can tell that good quality of groundnut oil cannot be sold anything less than Rs 200. But many brands are sold in the market between Rs 100 to Rs 160 a litre.

Food safety officials also warned the public to be wary of the cheap oils available in the market. At the same time, one cannot believe that those packed nicely and priced premium are of good quality. "There are many oil brands being sold in the name of cold pressed oil and priced over Rs 300 a litre. But in reality, their quality is similar to the ones sold in the market at half the price," a food safety official said.

Agappai Muthukumar added that many families on a tight budget cannot afford expensive oil all of a sudden. They can bring down the price to an extent if a group of families come together to produce the oil required for their families. All required ingredients are available in the market, which can be processed and taken to a cold press unit to get quality oil, he said.