Life Term, Rs 10 Lakh Fine: Tukaram Mundhe's Warning On Edible Oil Violations

The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has listed out serious penalties and legal action against those found violating food safety rules, especially on the use of edible oil.

FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe told reporters today that the punishment for violations can be between seven-year jail and life imprisonment or a fine of up to Rs 10 lakh.

"This is not just related to adulteration. It has serious and direct effects. It can lead to cardiac diseases and affect children's brain development. Repeated frying of the same oil can lead to many health problems, even cancer. That's why this is very alarming," Mundhe said, referring to edible oil.

His comments came after the FDA cautioned people against buying loose or unsealed edible oil. Even for packaged edible oil, he asked the public to check the batch number, and manufacturing and expiry dates.

The food safety body has been carrying out strict checks for the last few days, beginning with quick commerce firms and large grocery retailers. It is now focussing on checking whether edible oil that people consume is safe.

The FDA found that some big hotels have been giving only 200 litres of spent edible oil to companies for uses other than human consumption, Mundhe said, adding these same hotels, however, had consumed over 1,000 litres. The gap between the two had raised a red flag, he said.

"There is a regulation with respect to how much edible oil can be reused for frying and after that it should be given to other companies. They use it for other purposes and strictly not for human consumption," the FDA chief said.

What was worrying was that the spent oil re-entered the market under different packaging instead of being sold forward to companies for uses other than human consumption, he said.

"This is very dangerous. We also held a meeting with these companies. They said they were not getting nearly the same amount of oil compared to what the hospitality sector consumed," Mundhe said.

Another key point he raised was that no company can claim they have ingredients like certain vitamins and minerals in the edible oil they sell, the FDA chief said, adding they will take action for violation of advertising rules.

Mundhe said Maharashtra has 212 centrally licenced edible oil producers and 285 operators with state licences. The FDA collected 1,247 edible oil samples during the financial year 2025-26, of which 1,142 were analysed, he said. At least 77 substandard samples and 15 cases of misbranding were found.

On the FDA notices to actors Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn and Tiger Shroff and a tobacco firm over their advertisement for Vimal Elaichi, Mundhe said they were yet to send their responses. The notice had said the ad for Vimal Elaichi prima facie amounted to "indirect or surrogate" promotion of prohibited pan masala and tobacco-related products.