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The need
for labelling edible oil correctly
Wondirad Seifu, June 10, 2006, The Reporter
A label with required information is one of the quality
requirements of a product. In this age of massive production and
cross-boundary transaction, it has been accomplished by rules, standards
and conventions. But not in Ethiopia.
Labelling is more stringent in food industries. Hence,
producers are required to indicate the composition of their products to a
precise unit of measurement and even to zero limits of tolerance. This
would enable them to secure customers’ confidence and facilitate the
quality to exceed their expectation.
In spite of such growth-promoting practices, our world
is not free from prompting of retrograde measures. An abundance of culprits
violating such practices have been encountered in several places through
various ways. Merkato,
the grand open market of Addis Ababa, is blamed for hosting such
irregularities ranging from pinching to cheating to cell a wide range of
products from consumable to capital goods.
Locally produced cooking oil is available in Merkato with
a variety of trade names, usually, using the name of the familiar seeds
from which it is extracted. The oil is usually stored in a 200-liter volume
barrel and sold by measuring it in bottles of different capacity. There is
no provision of containers and, therefore, customers are required to bring
their own oil container.
Strangely enough some traders in oil do not like to use
a single name for the oil. Instead, they re-name it to deceptively attract
customers. They use variable names for a single kind of edible oil. For
example, an oil barrel that may contain linseed oil would be re-named as
Niger seed oil if a customer requests. Hence, “all-in-one is their
businesses secrete formula.
Unless you are clever enough to identify the oil you
want in consultation with your sensory organs, your chance to be cheated is
so high and you may conclude your transaction with the oil you may don’t
need at all. They totally violets your right of choice in the interest of
their greedy motives.
I came across a
similar act resembling that of the Merkato oil traders in a quite smart way that has been
perpetrated by one of leading edible oil factories in the country. You can
find the factory’s advertisement-decorated trucks shuttling in all
directions of the city while selling oil packed in a plastic container
under the market label of “refined ______ seed oil”. What seed? Presumably,
you should name it as you wish and feed on while praying in the name of
assumption and presumption.
Honestly, an energetic salesperson staunchly and proudly
attempts to convince you that the oil is of the first grade made of genuine
Niger seed of highland or lowland region. It is a new development for me to
learn about “grading” in the edible oil trade. I wish to test the second
and the third one, if any. In fact, there is a customer perception in the
country that Niger seed oil is of the highest quality.
In general, the source of edible oil is both vegetable
and animal origins. Among others, vegetable sources include soybean, palm,
cottonseed, corn, rapeseed, sunflower, linseed, and Niger seed. Vegetable
oils have a wide range of applications from food to chemical and to
pharmaceutical industries. By standard, rule or/and convention as well as
even by doctor’s convictions, the composition of edible oils should be
indicated on the label. For example, take a look at some of the imported
oil brands available in Addis Ababa.
Oil
Brand Composition
1. Chief 100% Palm
oil
2. Crystal 100% Soybean
oil
3. Hayat 100% Palm
oil
4. Oki 100%
Soybean oil
5. Sania 100% Palm
oil
6. Hatuna 100% Sun
flower oil
7. Viking 100% Palm oil
The type of oil determines the test of the food it is applied,
among others. No matter to what extent the oil is treated in an oil
refinery, its natural characteristics should not be changed to Niger seed
oil.
With regard to health, I used to know a person who
suffered from asthma, which he claimed was caused by linseed oil. He,
therefore, kept himself away from linseed of any form, from farm to fork.
So why not the said factory does declare its oil composition on the label
like that of the imported ones? Or does it adopt an “all-in-one” business
formula? Or does it use NGO brand oilseeds? Don’t we have the right to know
what we eat at our own cost?
What most stunned me is that the label of the factory’s
product carries the mark of the country’s Quality Authority: The Quality
and Standard Authority of Ethiopia. Does this mean that the factory’s
conduct is recognised and approved by the Authority, the respected member
of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)? Confusing!
Whither EC mark authorities?
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