Interesterified vegetable fat

means an edible fatty material that has been so treated as to bring about a rearrangement of fatty acid positions within the glyceride entities and hence a change in the physical properties like melting point, viscosity, specific gravity and the like with very little change in the constitution of the fatty acids themselves by a process of interesterification of the essentially neutral edible oil or fat, singly or in mixtures generally through the use of alkaline catalysts exemplified by sodium or potassium metals, or their ethoxides or hydroxides in the form either of anhydrous powders or in anhydrous glycerol medium followed by such post-process steps as washing, bleaching and deodourisation, the last of which can be omitted if the interesterified fat is to be incorporated as part of the raw material for further processing in edible fat products.

The interesterified fat shall be clear, free from soap, flavouring substances, rancidity, suspended or other foreign matter, separated water and mineral oil. It shall conform to the following standards, namely:—

1. It shall not contain any harmful colouring, flavouring or any other matter deleterious to health
2. No colour shall be added to interesterified fat unless so authorised by Government, but in no event any colour resembling the colour of ghee shall be added
3. If any flavour is used, it shall be distinct from that of ghee in accordance with a list of permissible flavours and in such quantities as may be prescribed by Government:
   Provided that diacetyl to the extent of not more than 4.0 ppm may be added to interesterified fat exclusively meant for consumption by the Armed Forces;
4. It shall not have moisture exceeding 0.25 per cent
5. The melting point as determined by capillary slip method shall be from 31^oC to 41^oC, both inclusive
6. The Butyro-refractometer reading at 40^oC, shall not be less than 48 or Refractive Index at 40^oC shall not be less than 1.4580
7. It shall not have unsaponifiable matter exceeding 2.0 per cent
8. It shall not have free fatty acids (calculated as Oleic acid) exceeding 0.25 per cent
9. The product on melting shall be clear in appearance and shall be free from staleness or rancidity, and pleasant to taste and smell
10. It shall contain raw or refined sesame (til) oil not less than 5 per cent by weight, but sufficient so that when it is mixed with refined groundnut oil in the proportion of 20:80, the colour produced by the Baudouin Test shall not be lighter than 2.0 red units in a 1 cm. cell on a Lovibond scale;
11. It shall contain not less than 25 I.U. of synthetic Vitamin A per gram at the time of packing and shall show a positive test for Vitamin A when tested by Antimony Trichloride (Carr-Price) reagent (As per IS: 5886-1970);
12. No anti-oxidant, synergist, emulsifier or any other such substance shall be added to it except with the prior sanction of the Authority. Test for argemone oil shall be negative.
    However, it may contain food additives permitted in these Regulations and Appendices
    Further, if the oil is obtained by the method of solvent extraction and the oil imported into India whether obtained by solvent extraction or otherwise, it shall be supplied for human consumption only after refining and shall conform to the standards laid down under regulation 2.2.1 (16). The oil so refined shall not contain Hexane more than 5.00 ppm.