Is argemone oil banned in India?

Argemone mexicana, the prickly poppy, grows as a weed in Indian mustard fields, and its seeds look enough like mustard seed to be crushed with it, deliberately or by accident. The resulting oil contains sanguinarine, an alkaloid that causes epidemic dropsy: swelling of the limbs, breathlessness, raised eye pressure and, in severe cases, heart failure. India has recorded outbreaks for a century, the worst in Delhi in 1998, which killed dozens and prompted a national crackdown on loose mustard oil.

Regulation 2.2.1 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 sets the standard for each edible oil, and every one of them, from mustard and groundnut to coconut and cottonseed, requires that the test for argemone oil be negative. Oil containing argemone therefore does not meet the standard and cannot lawfully be sold.

FSSAI's DART booklet describes a household nitric-acid test, and state laboratories screen mustard oil for argemone routinely. The prohibition applies to a contaminant rather than to a brand or product, and enforcement targets oil mills and loose-oil sellers. Packaged oil from licensed manufacturers is the practical safeguard.