Is Mustard Oil Safe in India? The Erucic Acid Question

Typical mustard oil has about 40 to 50 g of erucic acid for every 100 g, and that single number is why it is not allowed as a cooking oil in the United States whereas India permits it. Every headline about mustard oil being dangerous or banned traces back to it.

The regulatory limits and the human observational evidence point in different directions, and the honest position sits between them. Of the three SatRas oils, only one publishes a tested erucic acid figure at all.

Why is mustard oil banned in the USA?

Mustard oil is not completely prohibited in the United States. The Import Alert 26-04 of the US FDA prevents the selling of expressed mustard oil as a cooking oil, on the stated grounds that the oil may contain 20 to 40% erucic acid and that erucic acid has caused nutritional deficiencies and cardiac lesions in test animals. Bottles are sold in the USA stating external use only.

Two details get lost. The steam-distilled mustard essential oil used as a flavouring is a different product, and is separately recognised as safe in the US. And the restriction rests on animal toxicology rather than any finding of harm in American consumers, and has stood largely unrevisited since the 1970s.

What is erucic acid, and how much is in mustard oil?

Erucic acid is a long-chain monounsaturated fatty acid, cis-13-docosenoic acid, concentrated in the seeds of the Brassica family. In mustard oil it is usually the single largest fatty acid present. The FDA puts expressed mustard oil at 20 to 40% of total fatty acids, and Indian market analyses commonly report higher figures than that.

A 2025 survey in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis measured Indian market samples and reported most above 40%, with frying making no difference. Rapeseed was bred below 2% in the 1970s, which is how canola and the low erucic category came about.

How much erucic acid is considered safe to eat?

The European Food Safety Authority set a tolerable daily intake of 7 mg per kg of body weight per day in 2016. For a 60 kg adult that works out to roughly 420 mg a day. The figure derives from a no observed adverse effect level of 0.7 g per kg per day for lipidosis in young rats.

Now the arithmetic most articles skip. One teaspoon of mustard oil is about 4.5 g. At 45% erucic acid that teaspoon carries close to 2 g, several times the European reference intake for a 60 kg adult. In European diets the main sources were fine bakery wares and infant formula, not mustard oil, and only high-consuming infants and young children approached the TDI.

The typical Indian use is significantly higher than a European benchmark based on rodent data, marking the core of the disagreement rather than the verdict against the oil.

What did the animal studies actually find?

Myocardial lipidosis, meaning fat accumulating inside heart muscle cells. It has been observed in rats, pigs, monkeys, rabbits and gerbils fed diets high in erucic acid, appearing in rats at around 1 g per kg of body weight per day. Experimental work from the 1970s showed the accumulation clears once erucic acid is withdrawn.

EFSA describes the effect as reversible and transient during prolonged exposure. Rodents also handle very long-chain fatty acids differently from humans, and no controlled human trial of erucic acid intake exists, because feeding people a suspected cardiotoxin for years is not practical. That absence cuts both ways: it is not evidence of safety, and not evidence of harm.

What does the human evidence on mustard oil and the heart show?

Human data are observational and point the other way. A hospital-based case-control study of 350 heart attack patients in India, published by Rastogi and colleagues in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2004, found mustard oil used for frying was associated with a 71% lower risk of ischaemic heart disease than other oils.

A 2022 review in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology looked at the question directly, noting that 29 nations allow a low intake of erucic acid, that the Lipid Association of India endorses the use of mustard oil, and that its authors want a fresh FDA review of the safety limits. Case-control studies cannot determine causal relationships. The finding is worth knowing and it is not proof.

India's own ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024 edition, treat mustard oil as an acceptable cooking oil within a moderate total fat intake and set no erucic acid restriction.

What counts as low erucic acid mustard oil in India?

Low erucic acid mustard oil means under 2% of total fatty acids. That is the Codex Alimentarius threshold for low erucic acid rapeseed oil in CXS 210-1999, and FSSAI carries a separately named standard for rapeseed or mustard oil, low erucic acid, at the same level. Ordinary mustard oil is standardised under its own entry and is not held to that ceiling.

Thus, low erucic acid mustard oil is a defined regulatory category and not a marketing term. Only a few Indian brands sell mustard oil tested below 2%. Most mustard oil sold in India, kachi ghani and cold-pressed alike, is not in that category.

What does SatRas publish for its own oils?

Among the three SatRas oils, only one publishes an erucic acid number. The wood-pressed high oleic mustard oil, pressed from the Raya Hisar 1706 seed variety developed by CCSHAU and grown on SatRas farms in Hisar, carries a NIFTEM laboratory report on its product page. The other two publish fat totals only.

What does the 23.85 g figure actually mean?

SatRas publishes 23.85 g of erucic acid per 100 g for its high oleic mustard oil, on the NIFTEM laboratory report shown on that product page. That is roughly half the 40 to 50 g typical of regular mustard oil, and still far above the under 2% that the low erucic standard requires.

Both halves of that answer matter. Halving is a real reduction, and it is not the same thing as low erucic acid, so this oil should not be bought as though it were.

Why do the black and yellow oils publish no erucic figure?

Neither the black mustard oil nor the yellow mustard oil publishes any erucic acid figure at all. We will not derive one from the high oleic report, as they come from different seed and that number would be invented.

Ask for the lab report before buying, from us or anyone else, and compare all three in the mustard oil range or read how the three oils differ in the kitchen.

What this evidence does not settle

Quite a lot. No controlled human study shows that dietary erucic acid causes heart damage in people, and none shows it is harmless. The 71% figure refers to an association present in one population, not to a treatment effect. A lower erucic figure has not been shown to produce any measurable health outcome in humans, and nothing here should be read as saying it does.

The side effects reported are generally mild: skin irritation in sensitive people, and stomach problems at high intakes. Anyone with heart disease, anyone pregnant, and anyone feeding infants should take the erucic question to a doctor rather than to a brand.

This article is educational and is not medical advice. Speak to a qualified healthcare professional before making dietary changes, particularly if you have an existing health condition.

Frequently asked questions

Why do so few brands publish an erucic acid figure?

Because nothing obliges them to. The under 2% threshold under Codex and the matching FSSAI standard applies to oil sold as low erucic acid rapeseed or mustard oil. An ordinary mustard oil is not held to that name, so the label carries no figure unless the brand chooses to test and print one.

Is erucic acid in mustard oil good or bad?

Neither answer is established. Erucic acid caused reversible fat accumulation in the heart muscle of rats and other species at high doses, which is why regulators set limits. No controlled human study has shown the same effect in people, and Indian observational research points the other way.

Is there any erucic acid free mustard oil in India?

No mustard oil is entirely free of erucic acid, but low erucic acid versions exist. The threshold is under 2% of total fatty acids under Codex and the matching FSSAI standard, and a few Indian brands sell oil tested at that level.

What are the side effects of mustard oil?

The commonly reported ones are skin irritation on sensitive or infant skin, and stomach discomfort at high intakes. The erucic acid concern is a long-term theoretical risk drawn from animal studies rather than a reported side effect in people, and sensitivity varies between individuals.

Is mustard oil safe for cooking every day?

Indian dietary guidance treats mustard oil as an acceptable everyday cooking oil within moderate total fat intake, while US and European regulators are more restrictive. Moderation is the practical answer. If daily use matters to you, choose an oil that publishes its tested fatty acid profile.