I wish to bring to the attention of all members on a particular brand "Anandam" of Ginglee oil being manufactured & sold by Sri Kanikaparameshwari Oil Mills Bangalore(SKOM). This brand of Ginglee oil is being sold very cheap compared to other branded Ginglee oils in the market. It is quite often tempting to buy a cheap product. I too fell of this product mainly because it was cheap and secondly it seemed to be genuine(packed well). It was upon use, that I found that it had a completely different smell, which was not like a good ginglee oil. Initially I dismissed it for some old stock, but repeat purchases also smelt different. I was quite sure that it was adultrated with some other seed oil, but unable to figure out what.
In any case I stopped purchasing this oil and instead switched over to Idhyam Ginglee Oil which is almost twice the price of Anandam oil. While browsing the net for possible adultrants that manufacturers mix with the pure oil, I came across one seed oil "Argemone Oil". This plant is widely available in India, a short thorny plant with small yellow flowers. The seeds resemble the seeds of Brassica nigra(mustard). As a result, mustard can be adulterated by argemone seeds, rendering it poisonous.
The oil itself is used medicinally to treat dropsy, jaundice and skin diseases. Katkar oil poisoning causes epidemic dropsy, with symptoms including extreme swelling, particularly of the legs. Several significant instances of katkar poisoning have been reported in India, Fiji, South Africa and other countries. The last major outbreak in India occurred in 1998. 1% adulteration of mustard oil by argemone oil has been shown to cause clinical disease. It can be fatal if the adulteration is high. There are lab tests that can be done on Anandam oil to confirm what is the adultrant. But my word of caution to who-so-ever is currently consuming this oil is to avoid. I would request members to circulate this info to all their known circle of friends & relatives.