What Tests Sunflower Oil Manufacturers Must Follow Before Bottling

For any manufacturer, the quality of their product is one of the most important things to ensure. For sunflower oil manufacturers, it is even more important. One bad batch of oil can ruin the entire reputation of the brand and can land them in hefty legal punishments. So, to ensure the quality assurance of such food products, manufacturers need to pass the tests provided by FSSAI in India. 

Under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, FSSAI mandates that food oil manufacturers must meet specific physicochemical, safety, and nutritional criteria. Only after meeting these standards can they sell their products in the market. So what are these tests, and what must sunflower oil manufacturers do to clear them? In this article, we will discuss such questions and provide the necessary answers.

How Sunflower Oil Manufacturers Can Follow Physicochemical Quality Standards

Inside chapter 2 of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India's regulations, under 2.2.1. They have provided necessary tests that the products must go through to ensure they haven't been diluted or adulterated with cheaper alternatives. These tests include:

• Refractive Index of the oil at 40°C. This measures how much the light bends as it passes through the oil. FSSAI has set the standard range for sunflower oil from 1.4640 to 1.4691, which manufacturers must meet.

• Iodine Value is another standard that determines the degree of unsaturation of the oil. The test is done through the Wijs method with the accepted range of 100 to 145. 

• Saponification Value is the indicator of the average molecular weight of the fatty acids present in the oil. According to FSSAI, the range must fall between 188 and 194. 

• Tests of unsaponifiable matter, like vitamins and sterols, determine whether they are turning into soap or not, and ensure that the weight does not exceed 1.5%.

• In the Acid value test, the free fatty acid (FFA) is measured with a strict limit of max 0.5 mg KOH/g for sunflower oil. 

• Moisture and other volatile matter in sunflower oil are also determined. The limit is set to a maximum of 0.5 mg KOH/g, as excessive moisture in oil can lead to rancidity.

However, it does not end here; these subsets of tests only evaluate the physicochemical quality of the sunflower oil.

How Sunflower Oil Manufacturers Prove Their Product’s Purity

Unfortunately, many casualties in our country are attributed to food contamination and adulteration. Therefore, to combat this, FSSAI has devised a range of quality tests that determine whether the products are pure or have been adulterated with toxic additives.

One of the tests involves the detection of Argemone oil. It is a very critical test as argemone oil is considered a toxic adulterant that causes epidemic drops. The tested oil must have a negative value of this toxic material.

On the other hand, FSSAI tests also include the detection of mineral oils or petroleum-based oils through the Holde’s test or turbidity test. Some sunflower oil manufacturers also use castor oil to increase the viscosity of the thinner oil. To prevent this, FSSAI mandates that the sunflower oil must have a negative presence of this material. 

Moreover, if the flash point is low in oil, it will confirm the presence of dangerous residual volatile solvents. By using the Pensky-Marten Closed Method, the flash-point is determined and mandated not to be less than 250°C for solvent-extracted oils.

Safety Parameters Set by FSSAI for Sunflower Oil Manufacturers

Further purification mandates are implemented when the oil is extracted by using chemical solvents like Hexane, for example. For instance, the previously mentioned chemical is used to wash the oil from the seed. 

However, the manufacturer must ensure that before final packaging, the hexane residue must be less than 5.0 ppm (parts per million). On the other hand, due to the rising demand for trans-fat-free products, manufacturers must not exceed 2% by weight of trans-fat content in refined vegetable oils.

Additionally, though this is not a safety mandate for sunflower oil. Manufacturers can put their product through the cold test or winterisation. In this test, the oil is chilled to a temperature of 0°C for several hours. 

The test is done to see whether the oil remains clear throughout the duration of the test, as well as free from the waxes that naturally occur in sunflower seeds. A clean oil is the hallmark of a highly pure sunflower oil.

Miscellaneous Mandatory Tests and Compliances

Some tests determine whether any foreign or environmental pollutants entered the oil through the seed or other manufacturing equipment. The FSSAI has set limits on these elements to prohibit food poisoning from taking place. 

For example, to prevent heavy metal poisoning, the level of Lead (Pb) is limited to 0.5 ppm. To prevent groundwater or soil contamination by Arsenic (As), the limit has been set to 0.1 ppm, and for Mercury (Hg), the limit is 0.25 ppm. In the case of Aflatoxins, it is 15 µg/kg (Total) to prevent the toxicity from moldy seeds.

If any sunflower oil manufacturers are aiming to use the +F logo, which represents that their edible oil is capable of combating micronutrient malnutrition, they must clear two tests. The first one is the presence of Vitamin A, where it must be present between 6 µg to 9.5 µg of Retinol equivalent per gram of oil. Determination of Vitamin D is the second test, which must be present between 0.11 µg to 0.16 µg per gram of oil.

The last range of tests verifies the quality of packaging and the legitimacy of their information display. Sunflower oil manufacturers must conduct accelerated stability tests to justify the "Best Before" date. For packaging, brands that use PET bottles need to comply with IS 12252 standards. It ensures that the plastic monomers (like Vinyl Chloride) do not migrate into the oil. 

The display information must contain the following:

• FSSAI Logo and 14-digit License Number.

• Name of the vegetable oil (e.g., "Refined Sunflower Oil").

• Batch Number, Date of Manufacture, and MRP.

• Free from Argemone Oil" declaration.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, the range of these verification tests may seem a lot, but to ensure the safety of your customers, this is the bare minimum that must be done. Any sunflower oil manufacturers who are following this path should ensure that they care about their reputation and the customers they serve.