What is a Refined Vegetable Oil? What FSMS guidelines are required to be followed by Oil Manufacturing Units?
Refined Vegetable Oil

Refining vegetable oils produces edible oil which has characteristics that consumers desire such as a bland flavour and odour, clear appearance, light colour, stability to oxidation and suitability for frying.
Definition

According to Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, the word ‘refining’ means that the oil from an expressed vegetable oil or a solvent-extracted oil has been deacified in one of the following ways

With Alkali,
By physical refining or both
By miscella refining using permitted food grade solvent, followed by bleaching with absorbent earth and/or activated carbon or both of them and deodorized with steam without using any other chemical agent
Refining may also include the process of degumming using phosphoric/citric acid.
When refining oil

no other chemical agent can be used.
It is mandatory to clearly specify on the label of the container the name of the vegetable oil from which the refined oil has been manufactured
Besides the standards mentioned in the regulations for refined vegetable oil, manufacturers must also conform to the standards of each of the edible oils in the regulations when used for refining
acid value shall not be more than 0.5
Moisture shall not exceed 0.10% by weight
Test for argemone oil shall be negative.
The refined vegetable oil is permitted to be obtained from the following vegetable oils. It can be obtained from any of the following oils mentioned in the regulations Coconut, Cottonseed, Groundnut, Nigerseed, Safflower, Sesame, Soyabean, Sunflower, Mustard/Rapeseed, Linseed Mahua, Olive, Poppyseed, Taramira , Maize (Corn), Watermelonseed, Palm, Palmolein, Palm Kernel or Rice Bran.