KOZHIKODE: The Department of Food Safety has benned the sale of 21 coconut oil brands of 8 companies distributed in the district and neighbouring districts as all the stuff proved of substandard quality in lab tests. Issued under Section 36, 3 (b) of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, the order was issued on May 23 by P.K.Aleyamma, assistant food safety commissioner, Kozhikode. The companies are based at Kozhikode (five) and Palakkad districts (three).
The high price of coconut oil made the shopkeepers to push in low-cost coconut oil brands as the companies provide better margin to shopkeepers. Since palm oil is available for Rs 60-80 per litre, one can easily adulterate coconut oil reaping huge benefits, as coconut oil price touched an all-time high of over Rs 200 per litre recently, say experts.
The coconut oil brands includes SK's Drop of Nature Ayush, Sree Keerthi, Kelda (by Sreekrishna Flour and Oil Mill, Cheruvannur, Kozhikode) Keral, Vismaya, AS Coconut Oil (AS Oil Mill, Big Bazaar, Kozhikode), PVS Thripthi Pure Coconut Oil, Kavery Brand (Aswathi Oil and Flour Bill, Beypore, Kozhikode), Coco Menma, Agro Brand, (Vishnu Oil Mills, Palakkad), Kera Valley, Famous, Kera Special (Alfa Coconut Oil Mills, Govindapuram, Palakkad), Harita Giri, Annappoorna (Geetha Oil Mills, Narikkuni , Kozhikode) and Orange, Janasree, Keranice and Malabar Supreme (Pavangad Oil Mill, Kozhikode).
Food safety assistant commissioner Aleyamma told DC that her team had collected more than 50 samples from various shops in the district of which 21 brands of eight companies were prohibited in the district.Chemical examination proved that the brands are of inferior quality,.
