ISLAMABAD, May 8: The government has decided to ban import of edible oils by unlicensed importers to maintain quality control in the vegetable ghee industry.

“It is decided that the import of edible oils should be allowed to the manufacturers duly licensed by Pakistan Standards Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), according to the declared installed capacity of their manufacturing plants,” said a letter issued by director general PSQCA.

The DG, PSQCA, has asked the ministry of industries to issue necessary order in this regard. Under the law, PSQCA has to prepare standards of eatable goods and its recommendation on the import, sale and any related activities is binding on the government.

Furthermore, under the SRO 496, the ministry of commerce has recently imposed a restriction that import of goods shall be subject to the same national quality standards or regulations as are prescribed in respect of similar and domestically produced goods.

In order to comply with the SRO, the imported edible oils and banaspati ghee should also conform to PSQCA standards. The PSQCA says that infant mortality, deaths during pregnancy, lower life expectancy, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart diseases were some of the common results of adulterated ghee and edible oils.

Recently, about 14,000 standards, developed by International Organisation for Standardization (ISO), have been directly adopted as Pakistan Standards. After retention of some Pakistani specific standards and re-indesignation of most earlier development Pakistan as ISO standards, the number of Pakistan Standards have reached 15,000.

The standards are now available for many products and services and implementation of these standards could lead to the manufacturing of quality standard products in Pakistan, said the PSQCA.

It says that most of Pakistan Standards like ISO are voluntary but it is mandatory for 46 items to conform to related Pakistan Standards. The manufacturers of these items need licences for manufacture and to display Pakistan Standard Mark on the packings. Edible oils and Banaspati ghee are on top of that list.

Last year, the industries ministry had banned more than 50 ghee and oil brands due to their low quality. As a result of a campaign since last year by the PSQCA, the number of manufacturers in the organised sector has increased to 50 and the applications of 29 manufacturers are under process for licensing.

The authority said that it was imperative that the import of edible oils, the basic raw material for packed edible oils, cooking oil and ghee industries, should be regulated properly in order to reduce the chances of serious health hazards to the general public and improve the quality of the manufactured edible oils and ghee to encourage licensed manufactures.