Is Mustard Oil Banned in the US? Erucic Acid Explained

Mustard oil is not banned in India. It is a permitted, everyday edible oil regulated by the FSSAI and one of the most-used cooking oils in Indian kitchens. The 'ban' people keep asking about is a United States rule, not an Indian one. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration does not authorise mustard oil as a cooking oil for domestic sale; imported bottles must be labelled 'For external use only', and mustard oil is not on the FDA's list of oils generally recognised as safe (GRAS) for food. The reason is erucic acid, a fatty acid that traditional mustard oil naturally contains in fairly high amounts and which decades-old animal studies flagged as a concern. The European Union and the international Codex Alimentarius set legal limits on how much erucic acid an edible oil may contain. So the honest answer is this: restricted as a food oil in the US, capped by limit in Europe, and completely legal, traditional and everyday in India.

Is mustard oil banned in the US, and when was it banned?

In the US, mustard oil is not sold as a cooking oil. Per the U.S. FDA, it is not recognised as safe (GRAS) for use as a food oil, so any mustard oil (sarson ka tel) you find on an American shelf carries a 'For external use only' label, meant for massage, hair and aromatherapy rather than the kadhai. It is less a single dramatic ban with a date on it, and more a long-standing regulatory position: mustard oil was simply never authorised as an edible oil for domestic sale there. So when people search 'when was mustard oil banned in the US', they're usually looking for a moment that doesn't quite exist. The point isn't that it was approved and then withdrawn, but that it has never been cleared as a food oil, largely because of its erucic acid content.

• In the US: labelled 'For external use only'; not GRAS as a food oil.
• This is a food-use classification, not a claim that the oil is 'toxic' or illegal to own.
• The trigger is one specific fatty acid: erucic acid.

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

Erucic acid is a naturally occurring fatty acid, a long-chain monounsaturated (omega-9) fat found in the seeds of the mustard and rapeseed (brassica) family. Traditional mustard oil is naturally high in it: erucic acid can make up roughly 20 to 40 percent or more of its total fat, depending on the seed variety and growing conditions. That single fact is why mustard oil sits in a different regulatory box from oils like sunflower or groundnut, and it is the crux of nearly every 'why is mustard oil banned' question.

What is erucic acid used for?

Beyond occurring naturally in mustard and rapeseed oils, erucic acid has industrial uses. It is a feedstock in oleochemicals and shows up in lubricants and as a slip agent (erucamide) in plastic films. That industrial life is why some articles describe it in a slightly alarming, factory-floor tone, but in mustard oil it is simply a natural component of the seed's fat, not an added chemical.

Why is mustard oil 'banned' the way it is? Is it bad for health, and can it cause cancer?

The caution around mustard oil is specifically about erucic acid, and it traces back mainly to decades-old animal studies. In those studies, rats fed diets very high in erucic acid developed changes in heart tissue (a fatty build-up sometimes called myocardial lipidosis). Whether that translates to humans eating mustard oil in normal culinary amounts is far less clear, and the science is still debated. On the common worry 'can mustard oil cause cancer' - there is no clear evidence that mustard oil causes cancer in people, and that is not what the US restriction is based on. What is fair to say is this: bodies like the EU and Codex chose to cap erucic acid in edible oils as a precaution, and the US chose not to authorise high-erucic mustard oil as a food oil at all. Treat that as a regulatory judgement call informed largely by animal research, not as proof of harm from a plate of Bengali fish curry.

Is mustard oil banned in India or Europe? And where else?

No, mustard oil is not banned in India. It is a permitted, FSSAI-regulated edible oil and a daily staple across North and East India, used for everything from achaar to the very first tadka in a hot kadhai. Europe hasn't 'banned' it in the way the US has either; instead the European Union and the international Codex Alimentarius set legal limits on how much erucic acid an edible oil may contain, so oils have to comply with those caps. Roughly, the map looks like this:

• India: fully legal, everyday edible oil, regulated by the FSSAI.
• United States: not authorised as a food oil; sold 'for external use only'.
• EU / Codex countries: allowed, but subject to legal erucic-acid limits.
• Canada: historically drove the breeding of low-erucic (canola-type) varieties.

There was one episode in India, back in 1998, when authorities temporarily restricted the sale of loose, unpackaged mustard oil after an adulteration outbreak (mustard oil laced with argemone oil caused a serious illness known as dropsy). That was about adulteration and unsealed packaging, not a ban on mustard oil itself, and it is a big reason sealed, traceable, FSSAI-compliant packaging matters so much.

In India, mustard oil isn't banned. It's the first thing that hits a hot kadhai.

How much mustard oil is safe to use?

In India, mustard oil has been used daily for generations, and the practical answer most cooks already live by is 'in moderation, as part of a varied fat intake.' Indian dietary guidance from bodies like the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition emphasises keeping total added oil moderate and rotating between different oils rather than leaning on a single one all year. There is no Indian rule that treats normal home use of FSSAI-compliant mustard oil as unsafe. If you want to be cautious about erucic acid specifically, simply varying your oils across the week, mustard for the sarson-forward dishes, something milder elsewhere, is a sensible and low-effort approach.

Low-erucic-acid, zero-erucic and 'double-zero' mustard oil

Because erucic acid is the whole concern, plant breeders developed low-erucic-acid varieties of mustard and rapeseed. The most famous result is canola, a low-erucic-acid rapeseed. 'Double-zero' or '00' varieties are bred to be low in both erucic acid and glucosinolates, and low-erucic-acid mustard oil is available in India too, sometimes marketed as 'LEAR', 'zero erucic' or 'without erucic acid'. A couple of honest caveats:

• 'Zero erucic acid mustard oil' is usually shorthand for very low and within regulatory limits; genuinely absolute-zero is rare.
• Low-erucic oils trade away some of that pungent sarson bite for a milder profile, which is exactly why many traditional cooks still prefer full-flavoured, naturally high-erucic oil for achaar and Bengali cooking.

Where Organikaly's kachi ghani mustard oil fits in

Organikaly's mustard oil is traditional kachi ghani (cold-pressed) yellow mustard oil, made for Indian kitchens, where it is a fully legal, FSSAI-regulated staple. Kachi ghani means the sarson is crushed slowly at low temperature - no added heat, no solvents, no bleaching or deodorising - so the colour, that familiar sharp aroma, and the seed's natural compounds stay intact. Like all authentic mustard oil, it is naturally a high-erucic oil, and we would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise. It is high in monounsaturated fat, carries omega-3 ALA, contains no cholesterol (no plant oil does), and has a high smoke point of around 250 C, which is why it stands up so well to tadka, deep-frying and high-heat Indian cooking. If you're outside India, check your local rules first, since as this piece explains, mustard oil's food status varies by country.

A note on all of the above: this is general information, not medical advice. Nutritional needs are personal, and if you have a heart condition, are pregnant, or have specific dietary concerns, please talk to a qualified doctor or registered dietitian before making changes. Treat long-held beliefs about any oil as tradition rather than proven medicine.