The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved Afdhal, a cooking oil made with organic cooking oil.
The FDA said Afdhel can be used to make cooking oil and other products like ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise.
The product is sold as “food grade organic cooking fat” and is made from an “organic organic mix of organic oils and fats.”
The FDA says Afdhals cooking oil can be “used for cooking, cooking oils, and other cooking products.”
However, there’s one big catch.
While the product is made with cooking oil from “organic plants,” the FDA says “the cooking oils are derived from synthetic vegetable oil.”
The company’s website warns, “There is no way to determine the purity of synthetic vegetable oils.”
Afdal is made by using a combination of corn oil and palm oil.
According to the FDA, “these oils are made from synthetic oils that contain no essential oils, no synthetic vitamins, and no synthetic colors.”
The products are also made with hydrogenated vegetable oils.
The products’ packaging says, “This is a 100% organic food product.”
“The labeling on the label says this is 100% vegan, organic, and non-GMO, but there’s no way for the consumer to know for sure,” said Lori Rucker, the director of health and nutrition for Food & Water Watch, a consumer advocacy group.
“The FDA has put a lot of resources into making sure that Afdahl is safe, but it’s still making this false promise that it is safe.
The consumer should be wary when it comes to this kind of food-grade, chemical-laden product.”
The labeling on Afdhas product says, in part, “The following ingredients are not intended to be used as food ingredients or in foods containing them: Vegetable oil, corn, corn oil, soybean, canola, sunflower, soy, safflower, canthaxanthin, canaphora, or other soybean oil ingredients.”
The label also says, In addition, there is no soy in this product.
Afdals is manufactured by Dow Chemical.
The company says it is based in San Diego, California, and that it “is committed to sustainability, environmental stewardship, and fair and equitable treatment of animals and the environment.”
It says that the company has “successfully tested and certified this product for human safety and purity, and the results have been independently verified.”
The agency says the Afdahls ingredients include corn oil.
Afdiha, the company’s brand name, is a blend of “organic cane sugar and organic cane sugar,” according to the company.
“Cane sugar is a natural sugar found in fruits and vegetables.
The cane sugar is ground into the syrup,” the company said.
Afda is a registered trademark of Dow Chemical Co. In 2011, the Food and Safety Administration (FSSA) found that Afdihal was contaminated with chemicals linked to toxic metals and phthalates.
The agency found that some of the ingredients contained a “substantial amount of a chemical compound that is known to the Food & Drug Administration to be a solvent for the manufacture and/or use of lead or chromium.”
In 2011 the FDA also fined Dow Chemical $5 million for its role in the safety testing of Afdha.
Afsahal’s packaging said, “These ingredients are made with vegetable oil.
This oil is a good source of essential fatty acids.
It is a rich source of dietary fibre, minerals, and vitamins.”
Afdsahal was not the only product that tested positive for phthalate.
Dow Chemical was also fined $4 million for violating federal law by testing the products of two brands that were the subject of a 2014 class-action lawsuit.
The class-actions resulted in a $12 million settlement with Dow Chemical in 2016.
In 2016, Dow Chemical said that the class-activations involved only one product that was not intended for human consumption, which was a cooking oils.
In 2017, Dow was also hit with another class-act suit.
Dow and another food-based manufacturing company, Nestlé, were fined $3.5 million and $4.2 million for failing to report and comply with safety standards for food-related ingredients, including phthalocyanates.
A Nestlé spokesperson said in a statement, “Nestlé has zero tolerance for hazardous or potentially harmful chemicals, including those that are linked to cancer.”