AGMARK Standards for Butter

and Ghee

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 AGMARK Standards or AGMARK Grading

• Agmark stands for “Agricultural Marking”.

Why AGMARK?
• In order to have a systematic marketing of Agricultural Produce on
the basis of well defined quality, Indian Legislature in 1937 passed
an act known as “Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act,
1937.
• This act is not mandatory. It is permissive in nature. It is one’s
choice to go for Agmark grading, if one can meet their
specifications.
• Rules under this Act are called “General Grading and Marking
Rules, 1937”.
• Rules have been revised in 1988 and are called General Grading &
Marking Rules, 1988.
• Grading of Agricultural items under these rules is called AGMARK
GRADING or Agmark certification.
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• Agmark is the exclusive property of Govt. of India. It is not a
private trade mark.

• Directorate of Marketing & Inspection (DMI) is the authority

on the Agmark whose head quarter is now at Faridabad and
branched head quarter is at Nagpur. It is the DMI which
enforces the Agricultural Produce Act, 1937.

• Under the Agricultural Produce Act, 1937-grade standards are

given for agricultural and allied commodities like cereals, oil
seeds, oils, creamery butter, ghee, legumes, eggs etc.

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• Agricultural commodities are categorized into various grades
such as, special, good, fair, ordinary etc depending upon the
degree of quality (type of composition) in each case.

• These grades are known as “Agmark Standards” and this way

of categorizing or grading the agricultural products in terms of
their chemical composition or quality is called “Agmark
Grading”.

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Objectives of Agmark Scheme
• To assure the consumers a product of pre-tested quality & purity.
• To enable the producer of good quality products to have better
returns.
• To have a sale of the product in the market with a uniform
composition and well defined quality.
• To eliminate the malpractice of adulteration in the movement of the
product from producer to consumer.

As told earlier, among the dairy products, only ghee and creamery
butter (Table butter or salted butter) are graded under Agmark.
Deshi or cooking (unsalted or white) butter is not graded under
Agmark.

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AGMARK Standards for Butter

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 AGMARK Standards for Butter
Grading of Creamery butter i.e. Table butter or
Salted butter under AGMARK

There is no AGMARK standards for Deshi butter or Cooking

or Unsalted or White butter
• Grading of butter was started in 1941
• Relevant rules are called “Creamery butter grading and
marking rules, 1941”
• Creamery butter under AGMARK is graded as “Pasteurized
Table Butter”

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Specifications for butter under AGMARK
A. Grade designation: called Pasteurized Table Butter
B. Special characteristic: shall be made from pasteurized cream and the
phosphatase test shall be negative
C. General characteristics: 10 characteristics

1) General: shall be made from cream obtained from the milk of

cows or buffalos or both, with or without the addition of clean
dairy salt (NMT 3% as per FSSAI). The butter shall contain no
other preservatives, except BHA at the level NMT 0.02%

2) Flavour and aroma: shall be clean, pleasant and free from

rancidity. No extraneous flavour except Diacetyl shall be added, at
a level NMT 4 ppm. It shall be indicated in capital letters on packet
“CONTAINS ADDED FLAVOUR- DIACETYL”

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3) Body and texture: shall be firm at 15°C and be neither greasy nor
oily

4) Colour: shall be uniform without any coloured spots or signs of

curd particles.
only annatto or carotene may be used as a colouring matter (level
not specified)
it shall be indicated in capital letters on packet “CONTAINS
PERMITTED COLOUR ANNATTO/ CAROTENE”

5) Moisture content: NMT 16%

uniformly distributed in the body

6) Acidity: NMT 0.15% (L.A.)

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7) Milk fat content: NLT 80%

8) Curd: NMT 1.5%

9) Purity : physico-chemical constants of the fat obtained from butter

shall resemble (match) with the physico-chemical constants
prescribed for ghee for that area

10) The product shall be free from other animal fats, vegetable oils or
fats, mineral oils, wax or any other extraneous substances or
impurities

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AGMARK Standards for Ghee

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 AGMARK Standards for Ghee
Grading of ghee under AGMARK
• Grading of ghee was started in 1938
• Relevant rules are called “Ghee grading and marking rules,
1938”
• Three grades of ghee are specified under AGMARK
Grade Colour of Agmark label
1) Special Grade Red Label
2) General Grade Green Label
3) Standard Grade Chocolate Label
Note: Specifications of standard grade ghee are equivalent or
identical to that specified for ghee under FSSAI standard

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 The major difference in these three grades of ghee is on the
basis of FFA (acidity)
Grade Acidity (% Oleic Acid)
1) Special Grade NMT 1.4
2) General Grade NMT 2.5
3) Standard Grade NMT 3.0

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 Specifications of Special and General Grade Ghee

• There are two types of standards for both special and general
grades:
1) All India standard (for areas other than cotton tract of
Saurashtra and Madhya Pradesh)
2) Regional and seasonal standard (for cotton tract areas)

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 Agmark standard for Ghee
Regional and Seasonal
S.No Specifications All India Winter Summer
(Sept-Feb) (Mar- Aug)
1 Baudouin test   Negative
2 Butyro 40.0 – 43.0 41.5 – 44.0 42.5 – 45.0
refractometer
reading at 40°C
3 Reichert – Not less than Not less than Not less than
Meissl value 28.0 23.0 21.0 *
4 Polenske value 1.0 – 2.0 0.5 - 1.2 0.5 – 1.0
5 Moisture (%) Not more than 0.3
6 Percentage of free fatty acids (oleic)
    a Special Grade Not more than 1.4

    b General Grade Not more than 2.5

* Next slide 15
 * In summer, when RM value is between 19-21, Phytosterol
acetate test must be done and should be negative
• In case of Phytosterol acetate test, ghee is saponified and the
unsaponifiable matter is extracted and sterols present are
isolated with the help of digitonin and then converted into
acetates and then melting point is determined
• Cholesterol acetate – m.p.- 114- 115°C
• Phytosterol acetate – m.p.- 125- 137°C
• If m.p. is more than 117 °C, this indicates adulteration with
vegetable oil

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How The Certificate of The Authority To Use Agmark
Labels Is Obtained?

• Interested parties who wish to get authority to use Agmark

Labels have to apply to the Agricultural Marketing Advisor
(AMA) to Govt. of India at Directorate of Marketing &
Inspection (DMI) whose H.Q is at Faridabad (Branched H.Q.
at Nagpur)

• Application by the party concerned should be submitted

through the state marketing officer.

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 Interested parties should meet the following pre-
requisites so as to get the authority to use Agmark labels.

• They should have well equipped, hygienic site and hygienic

equipments

• They should have well equipped lab

• They should have qualified staff like butter makers having 5

years experience or possessing a certificate of proficiency from
a recognized agricultural or dairy institute. Similarly, a chemist
with degree in dairying

• Packers of pasteurized table butter should have pasteurizing

plant and cold storage facilities.

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• Cream separating station, if separate, that also should be
hygienic

• They should have quality control checks on cream and raw

materials so as to ensure that no adulteration with animal or
vegetable fat takes place

• Packing containers should be clean and rust free

• No vegetable fat, animal body fat and no artificial flavoring or

coloring matter should be seen near the factory and cream
separating station.

• Ghee clarification temperature should never go above 110°C.

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• They should also send one sample of butter/ghee to Regional
Agmark Lab or any other specified lab at regular intervals as
advised by AMA.
• All instructions from AMA will have to be followed strictly.
• For example, method of sampling, method of sealing and
marking of tins or cartons, maintenance of records, labeling
procedure as prescribed by AMA.
• Upto date record of labels to be kept, labels to indicate clearly
the designation (pasteurized butter, special & general grade of
ghee etc) and sr. no. of label.
• Container should indicate the name of packer, batch no. (Melt
no), date of packing, net weight and Certificate of
Authorization (CA) number.

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• Now if parties concerned can afford, then write to AMA at
Faridabad/Nagpur through state marketing officer.

• Then, AMA or his authorized persons will inspect the

premises, the facilities and technical staff etc.

• After satisfaction, AMA issues the necessary certificate of

authority to use Agmark Labels.

• Certificate of Authorization is renewed periodically on the

basis of the past performance of the authorized packer.

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 How The Agmark Scheme Operates In Case Of
Butter & Ghee?

• Once the authority to use Agmark Label for butter/ghee is

obtained, then usually the Agmark people employ their
chemist (called Agmark chemist) in the factory.

• All the operations right from the stage of manufacturing the

product to the stage of packing and sealing are done under the
supervision of Agmark chemist.

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• Usually the butter, ghee etc are manufactured in the factory
itself, but sometimes the Kacha/Raw ghee is brought to the
factory by middlemen, or agents or producers, then the
Agmark chemist draws sample of that Raw or Kacha ghee and
analyses for BR reading, FFA, Baudouin test, RM and
Polenske value etc for his satisfaction about its purity, before
its further processing

• After the manufacturing of every batch of butter or ghee, but

before the packing and sealing, the product is tested for purity
and quality by the Agmark chemist as per the Agmark
standard of the concerned product.

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• Agmark chemist draws two samples of butter, one is analysed
and second is sent to Regional Agmark Laboratory as
specified by AMA.

• Similarly in case of ghee, he draws three samples, one is

analysed and second is sent to central control lab as per AMA
and 3rd is given to manufacturer for future use.

• Once the Agmark chemist is satisfied with the analysis with

regard to the specifications fixed under Agmark, then only
labels are issued and fixed, otherwise it is denied.

• Fixing of labels is done by a special adhesive in such a manner

that once fixed cannot be removed without damage.

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• In case the Agmark chemist is not employed, then the authorized
packer can get his product tested at the approved State Grading
Laboratory (SGL).

• After the ghee and butter are packed and sealed in tins/cartons and
sold in the market, the field staff of DMI collects the check samples
from the market when the products are on sale in the market.

• These check samples are analyzed at different Regional Agmark

Laboratories (RAL) and the results are compared with the original.

• If the results agree then alright, but if the results do not agree, then
appropriate action is taken, such as the product is withdrawn from
the market, and the authority to use Agmark labels is cancelled etc.

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