Amendment to Vegetable Oil Production Norms Notified

The Central Government has notified the Vegetable Oil Products Production and Availability (Regulation) Amendment Order, 2025, revising the Vegetable Oil Products Production and Availability (Regulation) Order, 2011 in response to the growing need for enhanced monitoring, streamlined data collection, and removal of obsolete provisions. The 2011 order had earlier replaced the 1998 vegetable oil products regulation order.

Notable changes include:

• The authority has shifted from the Chief Director, Directorate of Vanaspati, Vegetable Oils & Fats to the Director, Directorate of Sugar and Vegetable Oils.
• The amendment introduces broader definitions, referencing the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, to align with modern data collection frameworks.
• The definition now explicitly includes blended vegetable oils, expanding the regulatory scope.
• The definition of “Information Schedule” has been added to include “any book, document, form, card, tape, disc, or any storage media on which information required is entered or recorded or is required to be entered or recorded for statistical purposes,” indicating a shift toward digital data management.
• De-oiled meals and edible flour have been removed from the scope of Section 4
• Appellate authority has been realigned under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008.
• Under Section 9, the timeline for submitting monthly returns has been extended from 7 to 15 days, providing more flexibility to producers. Additionally, the requirement to disclose recipient names, addresses, and quantities of dispatched oil varieties has been removed.
• The specified labeling for non-edible oils (“Not for direct edible consumption,” etc.) under section 12 has been replaced with a general compliance clause that mandates following orders issued under the regulation.
• Schedule III, which prescribed quality standards for various types of de-oiled meal, has been omitted entirely, signaling a regulatory shift away from direct control of de-oiled meal standards.

While the quality standards of the de-oiled meals have been removed by this order, they are governed by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSSAI) standards and guidelines when used in food products so they meet safe consumption levels. The Bureau of Industrial Standards (BIS) also has voluntary or mandatory standards for specific types of de-oiled meals, especially soybean, groundnut cake, mustard cake and those used as cattle or poultry feed. When used as organic manure, they must adhere to the Insecticides Act, 1968 and the Fertilizer Control Order (FCO) to ensure no harmful pesticide or solvent residues persist. Further, various exports and imports policy regulations and guidelines issued from time to time by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) apply to de-oiled meals that may cover the quality standards requirement deregulated by the present order.

In a recent meeting of the Indian Vegetable Oil Producers’ Association (IVPA) with the Union Food Minister Prahlad Joshi noted a 44% rise in oilseed production and a 22% increase in yield over the last decade.