Blogs

A phulka puffing on a cast iron tawa over a flame beside a brass plate of stacked rotis and a flour-dusted board
August 26, 2026
No. For atta sold in the open market, fortification is voluntary. The Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2018 give the Food Authority a power to require it for a staple food on Government direction, exercised case by case. Government nutrition schemes are a separate track, which is where most of the confusion comes from.
A metal measuring spoon lifting whole wheat atta from a steel bowl, with fine flour dust suspended in window light
August 25, 2026
Indian regulations require fortified atta to carry three nutrients: iron at 28 to 42.5 mg per kg, folic acid at 75 to 125 micrograms per kg, and vitamin B12 at 0.75 to 1.25 micrograms per kg. Where iron is supplied as sodium feredetate the range halves to 14 to 21.25 mg, because that form is better absorbed. Zinc and several vitamins may be added optionally.
A clay handi of deep golden unrefined mustard oil next to a plain glass bottle of pale refined oil, with mustard seeds scattered between them
August 25, 2026
You cannot confirm mustard oil purity at home, and any guide promising otherwise is overselling. The established detection methods use concentrated laboratory acids. What home checks can do is establish a baseline for a batch you already trust and flag an obvious change. The checks with real value happen before you buy, on the label and the paperwork.
Dark mustard seeds spread across a pale cotton cloth beside a plain glass vial of golden oil, the setup for an adulteration test
August 24, 2026
Argemone oil is pressed from the seeds of Argemone mexicana, the Mexican poppy, a weed that grows alongside mustard and whose seeds resemble mustard seeds. It contains the alkaloids sanguinarine and dihydrosanguinarine and has been linked to epidemic dropsy outbreaks in India, including a severe one in Delhi in 1998. Laboratories detect it with acid colour tests.
A heap of dark mustard seeds beside a plain glass bowl of golden mustard oil and a steel spoon, the kind of sample a lab report is run on
August 24, 2026
A useful mustard oil lab report covers three separate questions: is it adulterated, is it the oil the label claims, and is it contaminated. That means an argemone test, an allyl isothiocyanate figure where the pack says kachi ghani or cold pressed, a fatty acid profile, and contamination screening. A report should also name the laboratory, carry a reference number and a date.
Three terracotta saucers of organic garden inputs, pale wood ash, dark seed cake powder and granular growth promoter, on a terrace parapet beside potted plants including one with yellowing leaves
August 22, 2026
Match the input to the symptom. Yellowing lower leaves point to mustard oil cake, soil grubs and gnats point to neem seed powder, and wood ash belongs only on an acidic mix in doses under 10 g a pot. Leggy growth with no flowers is usually a light problem before it is a feeding problem. This guide sorts four common organic inputs by the problem in front of you.