Mustard Oil for Cooking: Is It Legal in Australia, and How to Use It

Mustard oil is the defining fat of Bengali cooking, used across eastern India, Bangladesh, Nepal and parts of Pakistan. It is also the cooking oil most surrounded by confusing and contradictory information, and if you have searched for it you will have found headlines saying it is banned, articles saying it is a health food, and bottles on shelves labelled in ways that do not match either.

This covers the regulatory position in Australia honestly, then the cooking.

Is Mustard Oil Legal in Australia?

The short version: mustard oil is sold in Australia, and there is a regulatory limit that traditional mustard oil does not meet.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand sets a maximum of 2% erucic acid in edible oils. Traditional mustard oil, the pungent cold pressed kind used across South Asia, typically contains 22% to 50% erucic acid. It is roughly an order of magnitude above the limit set for oils sold for eating.

That gap is why labelling varies so much between brands and importers. Some mustard oil in Western markets is sold labelled for external use only, or for massage, or as a cosmetic product rather than a food. In the United States the FDA does not permit it as a cooking oil for this reason. The European Union applies a 5% limit, which traditional mustard oil also exceeds.

A published study that tested mustard oil samples sourced in Germany and Australia found that seven of nine samples exceeded the permitted maximum, with erucic acid ranging from 0.3% to 50.8%. The Australian samples were labelled as imports from India or Pakistan.

What this means practically: check the label on the bottle in your kitchen. If it carries a statement such as for external use only or not for human consumption, that is the manufacturer or importer telling you it was not brought in as a food product, regardless of how it is used traditionally. If it is labelled as a food, it should be within the edible limit, which usually means it is a low erucic acid variety rather than traditional kachchi ghani.

Low erucic acid mustard oils do exist and are made in Australia. They are milder than the traditional product and are sold as edible oils.

What Erucic Acid Is, and How Worried to Be

Erucic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid found at high levels in mustard and rapeseed. The regulatory concern traces back to animal studies in the 1970s in which rats fed very large amounts developed myocardial lipidosis, a fatty change in the heart muscle. On that basis a number of countries set limits, and canola was bred specifically as a low erucic acid rapeseed.

Several things are worth holding alongside that.

The rat studies used doses far above normal human consumption. Rodents metabolise erucic acid differently from humans, which is a known limitation in extrapolating the finding. No clear evidence of the same harm in humans at dietary levels has been established, and a 2022 review in the medical literature examining mustard oil and cardiovascular health noted the tension directly: mustard oil is among the most widely used cooking oils in Asia, and in India it has been recommended as heart healthy by the Lipid Association of India, while Western regulators restrict it.

FSANZ's own 2003 review set a provisional tolerable daily intake of 7.5 mg of erucic acid per kilogram of body weight per day, which works out to roughly 500 mg per day for an average adult.

So the honest summary: the regulatory caution is real and based on a genuine finding in animals, the human evidence is thin in both directions, and hundreds of millions of people have cooked with it daily for generations. The position most households land on is to use it for the dishes it belongs in, keep a neutral oil for everything else, and not make it the only fat in the kitchen. That is a reasonable reading of an unsettled question rather than a scientific verdict.

If you have a specific cardiac condition, this is a question for your doctor and not for a blog post.

Heat It Until It Smokes

Setting regulation aside, this is the single most important thing about cooking with mustard oil, and it is the reason most people who dislike it dislike it.

Raw mustard oil contains allyl isothiocyanate, the compound behind the bite in mustard and horseradish. Cold, it is aggressive and bitter. Heated until it smokes and the colour lightens slightly, that compound breaks down and the flavour turns nutty, rounded and aromatic.

The method:

1. Pour the oil into a cold pan.

2. Heat on medium high until it smokes visibly and lightens in colour.

3. Take it off the heat for twenty to thirty seconds.

4. Return to the heat and cook as normal.

Every Bengali kitchen does this automatically and most written recipes assume it without stating it. Skip it and the harshness runs through the whole dish.

The exception is finishing oil. A few drops of raw mustard oil over a finished bhorta or a plate of rice is deliberate, and there the pungency is the point.

What It Suits

Fish. The pairing mustard oil exists for. Shorshe ilish, hilsa in mustard sauce, is the canonical dish, and it works with rohu, katla and most freshwater fish. The sharpness cuts through oily fish in a way neutral oils cannot.

Bhorta and mashes. Potato, aubergine and shutki bhorta. Often used raw here, and the oil is the dominant flavour.

Pickles and achar. The traditional preserving medium across the subcontinent. Its strength holds up over months of storage. Achar range

Meat and chicken curries. Bengali murgir jhol and meat curries begin with mustard oil heated to smoking, then used to temper whole spices.

Vegetable dishes. Aloo posto, shukto and similar Bengali preparations.

Egg dishes. Fried eggs and omelettes cooked in mustard oil are standard Bengali breakfast food.

What It Does Not Suit

Baking, delicate sauces, and anything where you want the fat to disappear. Mustard oil is not a neutral medium and does not behave like one.

Deep frying is traditional and possible, though it uses a lot of oil and the flavour carries into everything fried in it.

Cold Pressed, Kachchi Ghani and Refined

Kachchi ghani means the seed was crushed at low temperature without heat or solvents. The traditional method, and it preserves the aroma, colour and pungency.

Cold pressed is the same idea in English. The terms are used interchangeably on labels.

Refined mustard oil is processed with heat and solvents. Milder, paler, higher smoke point, and it loses much of what makes mustard oil worth using. Refining can also reduce erucic acid content, which is worth knowing in light of the section above.

For traditional cooking, kachchi ghani has the character the dishes were built around. Deep amber colour and a sharp smell when you open it are the signs of a good one.

The Brands

Tez Kachchi Ghani. Cold pressed and strongly pungent. Tez mustard oil 1L

Radhuni. A Bangladeshi brand widely used in Bengali households, in 400ml and 1L. Radhuni 1L and 400ml

Ispahani. An established Bangladeshi brand, sold in a 2kg size. Ispahani mustard oil

Full range at Hills Harvest mustard oil.

Storage

Keep it in a cool dark cupboard with the cap sealed. Light and heat degrade it and the aroma goes first.

Around a year unopened, six months or so once opened. Refrigeration is unnecessary and causes cloudiness, which is harmless but makes pouring awkward. Cloudiness in cold weather is normal and clears at room temperature.

Buy a size you will finish while it is fresh. A 2kg bottle is only good value if it gets used.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is mustard oil legal in Australia?

Mustard oil is sold in Australia. FSANZ sets a maximum of 2% erucic acid in edible oils, and traditional cold pressed mustard oil typically contains 22% to 50%, so it does not meet that limit. Labelling varies between brands and importers, and some mustard oil is sold for external use rather than as a food. Check the label on your bottle.

Why is mustard oil banned in some countries?

Because of erucic acid. Animal studies in the 1970s linked very high intakes to heart muscle changes in rats, and several regulators set limits on that basis. The United States does not permit it as a cooking oil and the European Union applies a 5% limit.

Is mustard oil good for cooking?

For the dishes it belongs in, it is close to irreplaceable, and it has a high smoke point of around 250 degrees Celsius. Whether it should be your everyday oil is a separate question, and the regulatory position above is the reason to treat it as a specific ingredient rather than a general purpose fat.

Why does mustard oil taste bitter?

Because it has not been heated enough. Heat it until it smokes, rest it briefly off the heat, then cook. That converts the harshness into a nutty aroma.

What is the smoke point of mustard oil?

Around 250 degrees Celsius, which is high compared with most cooking oils.

Is cold pressed better than refined?

For traditional flavour, yes. Cold pressed retains the aroma and pungency. Refined is milder and loses much of the character, though refining can also lower the erucic acid content.

Is mustard oil the same as sarson oil?

Yes. Sarson is the Hindi and Punjabi word for mustard, and sarson ka tel is the same product.

Can I substitute mustard oil?

Nothing substitutes well for the flavour. If you must, use a neutral oil with a little mustard paste or crushed mustard seed to approximate it, and accept the result is different.

Hills Harvest is halal certified and stocks Radhuni, Tez and Ispahani mustard oil, delivering across western Sydney including The Hills Shire, Blacktown, Parramatta and Hawkesbury. Delivery runs Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and delivery is free on orders over $30. Browse mustard oil.