Multi Source Edible Vegetable oils Grading and Marking Rules, 2021 : Apply to all edible vegetable oil prepared by blending of two refined edible vegetable oil.
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
(Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare)
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 17th May, 2021
G.S.R. 329 (E).— the following draft of the Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oils Grading and Marking Rules, 2021, which the Central Government proposes to make in exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 and section 5 (B) of the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 (1 of 1937) as amended upto 1986, and in supersession of the principal rule of Blended Edible Vegetable oils Grading and Marking Rules, 1991 and Blended Edible Vegetable oils Grading and Marking (amendment) Rules 1992 & 2002; except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such supersession is hereby published as required by the said section for information of all persons likely to be affected thereby, and notice is hereby given that the said draft rules shall be taken into consideration after the expiry of a period of forty-five days from the date on which the copies of the Gazette of India containing this notification are made available to the public.
2. All objections or suggestions which may be received from any person with respect to the said draft rules before the expiry of the period so specified will be taken into consideration by the Central Government.
3. Any person desirous of making any suggestion in respect of the said draft rules, may forward the same, within the period specified above, to the Agricultural Marketing Adviser to the Government of India, Directorate of Marketing and Inspection, Head Office, CGO Complex, NH – IV, Faridabad (Haryana) 121001, who shall forward the same to the Central Government for consideration.
1. Short title, application and commencement.-
(1) These rules shall be called the Multi Source Edible Vegetable oils Grading and Marking Rules, 2021.
(2) They shall apply to all edible vegetable oil prepared by blending of two refined edible vegetable oil.
(3) They shall come into force on the date of their final publication in the Official Gazette.
2. Definitions. –
(1) In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) ‘‘Agricultural Marketing Adviser” means the Agricultural Marketing Adviser to the Government of India;
(b) ‘‘authorised packer” means a person or a body of persons who has been granted a Certificate of Authorisation to grade and mark Multi Source edible vegetable oils in accordance with the grade standards and procedure provided under these rules;
(c) “Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil (MSEVO)” means an admixture of any two refined edible vegetable oils of the quality and the proportion as specified in Schedule II;
(d) Certificate of Authorisation” means a certificate issued under the provisions of the General Grading and Marking Rules, 1988 authorizing a person or a body of persons to grade and mark Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil with the grade designation mark;
(e) ‘‘General Grading and Marking Rules” means the General Grading and Marking Rules, 1988 and their amendments made under section 3 of the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 (1 of 1937);
(f) ‘‘grade designation mark” means the AGMARK Insignia referred to in rule 3 ;
(g) Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 and other regulations made under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (34 of 2006);
(h) “Legal Metrology (Packed Commodities) Rules” means the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, made under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 (1 of 2010); and
(i) ‘‘Schedule” means a schedule appended to these rules.
(2) Words and expressions used in these rules and not defined but defined in the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937 and General Grading and Marking Rules, 1988 shall have the same meanings as are assigned to them under the Act.
3. Grade designation mark.- The grade designation mark shall consist of the design of “AGMARK Insignia” as set out in schedule-I, incorporating the certificate of authorisation number, the word “AGMARK”, name of commodity and its grade. Provided that the use of Agmark replica in lieu of Agmark labels shall be allowed only to such authorised packers who have been granted the permission by the Agricultural Marketing adviser or an officer authorised in this regard or as may be specified from time to time.
4. Grade designations.- The grade designations to indicate the quality Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil the criteria for grade designation as set out in schedule-II.
5. Quality.- For the purposes of these rules, the quality of Multi Source edible Vegetable Oil shall be as given in schedule-II.
6. Method of packing.-
(1) Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil shall be packed in temper proof sealed new, sound and clean tins, glass bottles, container, jars, cans or tetra packs or poly packs (laminated, extrusion, multilayer) made of food grade plastic materials or any bio-degradable packaging materials or any other packaging material which is approved by the Agricultural Marketing Adviser or the officer authorised by him under rule 11 of the General Grading and Marking Rules.
(2) The packaging material shall be free from insect and fungal infestation, rust, imparting color deleterious substances and shall not impart any toxic substance or undesirable odour or flavor or color to the product.
(3) Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil shall be packed in pack sizes in accordance with provisions of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules or any notification of Food Safety and Standards (Packaging)/ (Labeling and Display) Regulations and as may be allowed by the Agricultural Marketing Adviser under rule 11 of the General Grading and Marking Rules.
(4) Graded material of small pack sizes of the same lot or batch and grade may be packed in a master container with complete details thereon along with grade designation mark.
(5) Each package shall contain Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil of the same type and of the same grade designation.
(6) Each package shall be properly securely sealed so as to disallow spilling with replica numbers issued by the competent authority.
7. Method of marking and Labeling.-
(1) The grade designation mark shall be securely affixed to or clearly and indelibly printed on each package in a manner approved by the Agricultural Marketing Adviser or an officer authorised by him under the rule 11 of the General Grading and Marking Rules.
(2) Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil is mandatorily required to be sold under AGMARK certification mark as per sub-regulation 2.1.1.5 and clause 11 of sub-regulation 2.3.14 of Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations, 2011. The sealed package shall be sold or offered for sale only under AGMARK certificate mark bearing the label declarations as provided in the regulations besides other labeling requirements under the regulation 2.4.2 of the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Regulations, 2018 and the Food Safety and Standards (Labeling and Display) Regulations, 2018 or any amendments issued in this matter.
(a) Every package containing an admixture of refined edible oils shall carry the following label declaration immediately below its brand name/trade name on front of pack, namely:-
(b) The font size of the label declaration “Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil” shall not be less than 5 mm and for label declaration “Name of refined edible vegetable oil …..% by weight”, font size shall not be less than 3mm;
Provided that the font size of the label declaration “Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil” shall not be less than 10mm in case the net quantity of the edible oil contained in the packages is 5 litre and above.
There shall also be the following declaration in bold capital letters along with the name of product on front/central panel:-
(c) The Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oils shall not be sold in loose form. It shall be sold in sealed package weighing not more than 15 liter/Kg. The container having Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil shall be tamper proof.
(d) It shall also not be sold under the common or generic name of the refined oils used in the Blend, but shall be sold as “Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil” or any other nomenclature as referred in FSSAI for the same.
(e) Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil packaging label shall not use any exaggerated expressions like
“Super-Refined”, “Extra-Refined”, “Micro-Refined”, “Double refined”, “Ultra-Refined”.
(3) In addition to the grade designation mark, following particulars shall be clearly and indelibly marked on each label or package, namely :-
- (a) name of the commodity;
- (b) variety or trade name (optional);
- (c) grade;
- (d) constituent oils refined-physically/chemically
- (e) lot/batch number;
- (f) date of packing;
- (g) net weight;
- (h) Expiry/Use by /Best Before MONTH YEAR;
- (i) Maximum retail price (inclusive of all taxes);
- (j) Name and address of the authorised packer;
- (k) any other particulars as may be specified under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, or under the Food Safety and standards(Packaging and Labeling) Regulations, 2011 or any other law for the time being in force or any instructions issued under the provisions of the Act.
(4) The ink used for marking on packages shall not contaminate the Multi Source Edible Vegetable oils.
(5) The authorised packer may after obtaining prior approval of the Agricultural Marketing Adviser or the officer authorised by him under rule 11 of the General Grading and Marking Rules, mark his private trade mark or trade brand on the graded packages provided it does not indicate quality other than that indicated by the grade designation mark affixed to the graded packages in accordance with these rules.
8. Special conditions of Certificate of Authorisation. –
(1) In addition to the conditions specified in sub-rule (8) of rule 3 of the General Grading and Marking Rules every authorised packer shall follow all other instructions specified under the provisions of the Act, the following shall be the additional conditions for issue of Certificate of authorisation for grading and marking of the Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oil granted under these rules.-
(2) The authorised packer shall have own machinery and equipment for expression and refining of both the constituent vegetable edible oils or shall have appropriate arrangements for procurement of one specified constituent refined vegetable oils of the prescribed quality as per Food Safety Standard Authority of India.
(3) The authorised packer shall have set up his own edible vegetable oil grading laboratory fully equipped with all necessary chemicals, equipment’s and apparatus for testing the quality of refined vegetable oils prior to blending and as the quality of the blended oils; manned by a qualified chemist approved by the Agricultural Marketing Adviser or an officer authorised by him under the rule 9 of the General Grading and Marking Rules, for testing the quality of Multi Source Edible Vegetable Oils and refined edible vegetable oil to be used.
(4) The authorised packer shall provide all necessary facilities and assistance to the approved chemist for carrying out the grading and marking of the Multi Source edible oil under these rules.
(5) The authorised packer shall maintain proper record of analytical reports and quantity of the individual constituent oils used for blending and the production of blends shall submit periodical returns to the Directorate of marketing and inspection in the prescribed proforma.
(6) The premises for processing, blending and packing of edible oils shall be maintained in hygienic and sanitary conditions with proper ventilations and well lighted arrangement and the personnel engaged in these operations shall be in sound health and free from any infectious, contagious or communicable diseases.
(7) The premises shall have adequate storage facilities with pucca floor, free from dampness, any kind of cracks and crevices, rodent and insect infestation.
(8) The authorised packer and the approved chemist shall observe all instructions regarding testing, grading, packing, marking, sealing, maintenance of records, which may be issued under the provisions of the Act.
(9) The authorised packer shall ensure that the graded Multi Source edible vegetable oil is sold only in sealed packs and not in loose form and as per provisions made under FSSAI regulations.
(10) CA of MSEVO will not be granted to those Authorised packers for such premises where CA has already been granted for grading and marking of raw edible vegetable oils under Agmark.
(11) The authorised packer has to get analysed constituent vegetable oils and principal vegetable oils for fatty acid profiles in addition to all parameters as prescribed in FSSAI or Agmark with proper records.
(12) CA of MSEVO shall not be granted to premises which are in environmentally polluted areas and industrial activities that produces disagreeable or obnoxious odour, fumes, excessive soot, dust, smoke, chemicals or biological emissions which pose a threat of contaminating the edible vegetable oil or MSEVO and suitable measures shall be taken to protect the manufacturing area from any potential contaminations;
(13) The authorised packer of MSEVO shall get analyzed lots periodically for food safety parameters as per instructions of the Agricultural Marketing Adviser.