The Myanmar government will take legal action against those found to be selling fake cooking oil from March, says Kyaw Win, Union Minister for Planning and Finance.
“Don’t sell cooking oils that are labelled '100% pure peanut oil' but are mixed with other oils. Don’t lie to the public," he said. “If they are mixed oils, producers have to label how much of the percentage is mixed.
“[Deceptive labelling] is dishonest. It is the government’s duty to ensure the public are safe so we will deal with this issue as quickly as possible."
The minister said the government would approach the crackdown on adulterated products in a way that is fair for both producers and consumers, The Myanmar Times reported.
“There is no problem if mixed cooking oils are officially labelled," said Khin Soe, chairman of the Myanmar Oil Millers Association. "But we can’t accept it when fake peanut and sesame oils are made using cooking oils and other unidentified oils plus artificial fragrance.
“We demand that the minister take tougher action against these traders of fake oil, and he told us he would do so from March."
In the local cooking oil market, certain brands of peanut oil and sesame oil have been found to actually contain a mixture of different types of oils. However, their labels claim the contents to be 100% pure, said an oil trader.
The products can be mixed with peanut oil, palm oil or sunflower oil but must be labelled accordingly, he added.
Khin Soe said there were also many different brands of cooking oil being sold in the market, and some were believed to have been imported illegally. He urged the government to conduct stricter border checks to stem the supply of these products.
Kyaw Win said illegally imported oils posed a potential health hazard, as the government is not able to provide a food safety guarantee on these products. He urged the public to refrain from purchasing imported brands of cooking oils if the source is unknown.