Vegetable oil
The government has issued a new rule for the food oil industry, under which the oil makers will now have to go through strict registration and reporting. This decision of the government simply means that the government wants to completely stop the poor food oil coming in the market before the festive season.
On 1 August, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has notified 2025 Vegetable Oil Products, Production and Avenience (VOPPA) Regulation Order. This new order changes the old order of 2011 under the Essential Commodities Act of 1955.
Oil mill will have to give this information every 15th
Under the new rule, oil makers will now have to get a registration certificate from the Directorate of Sugar and Vegetable Oil in Delhi by giving information like the address of their factory, production capacity. Now every producer will have to inform the government about the use, production, sale and stock in its factory till the 15th of every month, so that the supply chain can be monitored and the availability of food oil remains available at the right prices of food oil.
Stock will be seized on mistake
The new order has also increased the strength of inspection and action. The director will have the right to investigate the factory, ask for information and confiscate the stock on receiving the wrong report. Not following the rules will be clearly forbidden. Some definitions have also been cleaned in this amendment, such as the definition of producers, vegetable oil and director is now decided according to the Essential Commodities Act 1955 and Statistics Collection Act 2008.
In the old order, some older words such as de-oiled meal or edible flour have been removed. Also, the rules have been made easier by eliminating schedule-III and para 13. Now instead of the word clause, only the word director will be used in place of para and Chief Director.
IVPA welcomed the government’s decision
The Indian Vegetable Producers Association (IVPA) has welcomed the move. IVPA said that the government’s concern was that the oil industry could not get the right and complete information, which makes it difficult to make policies. According to IVPA, the rules are followed properly in the organized sector and data is easily found, but this work will be challenging in the unorganized sector with small oil mills and units.
Nevertheless, the organization hopes that the quality of data will improve over time and this will benefit the government, farmers, customers and industry. This new order of 2025 is considered a major step towards increasing transparency and accountability to keep the supply of food oil stable.