Why the Palm Oil in Your Mayo Should Concern You

Most mayonnaise jars in India are built on the cheapest fat on earth. As of 2024, palm oil is the country's most-consumed cooking oil, making up roughly 37 to 38% of everything India eats, and a large share of it flows into everyday packaged food, right down to the mayo in your fridge (Grand View Research, India Palm Oil Market Report, 2024).

That number landed differently for me. As someone from a family that has spent three generations working with ghee, I know what honest fat looks like. It doesn't need to hide behind the phrase "edible vegetable oil" on an ingredient label.

Here's what the science actually says about the oil sitting inside your mayo jar, where the concerns are real and where they're overstated, and what cleaner alternatives exist.

Key Takeaways

• Refined palm oil carries the highest levels of the process contaminants 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters among vegetable oils (EFSA, 2016).
• Palm oil is about 50% saturated fat; the WHO advises keeping saturated fat under 10% of daily energy (WHO, 2023).
• Around 32% of Indian consumers say they would pay 75% or more extra for ingredients they recognise and trust (Ingredion).
• Ghee is a naturally clarified fat that carries butyric acid, CLA and fat-soluble vitamins, and needs no high-temperature refining. Refined palm oil delivers none of these.

What Is Palm Oil Doing in Your Mayonnaise?

In 2025, IMARC Group valued India's mayonnaise market at USD 455.66 million, projecting it to reach USD 850.06 million by 2034 at a 6.20% CAGR (IMARC Group, India Mayonnaise Market Report, 2025). That's a huge volume of condiment moving through Indian kitchens and restaurants. And the base ingredient in most of it? Palm oil or soybean oil.

Why palm oil? Three reasons: cost, stability, and neutrality. Palm oil is far cheaper than olive oil, ghee, or even mustard oil. It resists spoilage. And it has almost no flavour, which lets manufacturers control taste with additives instead of the fat itself.

What we've noticed: When we developed Gheeyonnaise, sourcing A2 Gir Cow Ghee as the base cost us roughly 2 to 2.5 times more than palm oil would have. That price gap is exactly why most brands don't bother with alternatives.

Imports cover more than half of India's edible-oil needs, and palm is the largest imported oil. In 2024-25, India brought in about 7.58 million tonnes of palm oil, down from roughly 9 million tonnes the previous year after duty changes and higher global prices (Solvent Extractors' Association of India, via Business Standard, 2025). That imported oil flows into biscuits, chips, instant noodles, and yes, your favourite mayonnaise.

What Does the Science Actually Say About Palm Oil?

In 2016, the European Food Safety Authority published a landmark scientific opinion that still shapes global food regulation. EFSA tested major vegetable oils for process contaminants and found the highest levels of 3-MCPD, 2-MCPD and glycidyl esters in palm oils and palm fats, well above any other vegetable oil (EFSA, Process contaminants in vegetable oils and foods, 2016).

These contaminants aren't naturally present in the palm fruit. They form when oils are refined at high temperatures, around 200 degrees Celsius, and palm oil is especially prone to generating them.

Here's the part that matters. EFSA concluded that glycidol is genotoxic and carcinogenic, and it declined to set any safe intake level for glycidyl esters. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies glycidol as Group 2A, "probably carcinogenic to humans," and 3-MCPD as Group 2B, "possibly carcinogenic" (IARC Monographs, classification list). In 2018, EFSA reassessed the data and set a tolerable daily intake for 3-MCPD of 2.0 micrograms per kilogram of body weight (EFSA, Revised safe intake for 3-MCPD, 2018).

One thing worth stating plainly: this is about the contaminants formed during refining, not a claim that palm oil itself causes cancer. The distinction matters, and it's exactly why how a fat is processed is as important as the fat itself.

On the nutrition side, the WHO in 2023 reaffirmed that saturated fat should stay under 10% of daily energy, and that hard fats like palm oil are best replaced with unsaturated plant oils (WHO, Updated guidelines on fats and carbohydrates, 2023). Palm oil is roughly 50% saturated fat, so a condiment you spread every day adds up.

In 2016, the EFSA CONTAM Panel found the highest levels of the process contaminants 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters in refined palm oils and fats, formed during high-temperature refining. It classified glycidol as genotoxic and carcinogenic and set no safe intake level for glycidyl esters, a finding echoed by IARC's 2A classification of glycidol (EFSA, 2016).

Why Should Indian Consumers Pay Attention?

Because Indian shoppers are already voting with their wallets. In recent research, about 32% of Indian consumers said they would pay 75% or more extra for ingredients they recognise and trust, one of the strongest clean-label signals in any market (Ingredion, Consumer preference for clean labels). India's packaged-food sector is now reformulating around natural ingredients, minimal processing, and label transparency (Expert Market Research, India Clean Label Ingredient Solutions).

Yet most consumers can't tell what oil their mayo actually contains. Palm oil or a derivative sits in close to half of all packaged supermarket products (WWF-UK, 8 things to know about palm oil), and on an Indian label it often appears only as "edible vegetable oil" or "vegetable fat." Flip your mayo jar right now. Chances are, you won't see the words "palm oil" at all.

India's food regulator is nudging this along. In 2024, the FSSAI proposed that total sugar, salt and saturated fat be displayed in bold, larger font on packaged food labels, making the fat content harder to bury in fine print (The Print, FSSAI bold labelling proposal, 2024). The direction is clear: more transparency, not less.

India's mayonnaise market is projected to nearly double, from USD 455.66 million in 2025 to USD 850.06 million by 2034, a 6.20% compound annual growth rate, with the institutional and foodservice segment holding about 54% of demand (IMARC Group, 2025). As that market grows, so does scrutiny of what's actually inside the jar.

How Does Palm Oil Compare to Ghee Nutritionally?

Let's be honest up front: both fats are high in saturated fat. Palm oil is roughly 50% saturated; ghee is higher still, at around 62%. Anyone who tells you ghee "wins" on saturated fat is misreading the data. The real differences lie elsewhere, in what else the fat carries and in how it's made.

Ghee is a whole food. It provides butyric acid (roughly 3 to 4%), conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K2, a profile confirmed in a 2024 peer-reviewed comparison of butter, ghee and margarine (PMC, Comparative analysis of butter, ghee and margarine, 2024). Butyric acid, in particular, is a short-chain fatty acid that laboratory studies associate with gut-lining health. Refined palm oil carries none of this.

The bigger differentiator is processing. Ghee isn't refined at 200 degrees Celsius; it's made by slow clarification of butter, and it's naturally stable without industrial hydrogenation, so no artificial trans fats are created. The EFSA contaminant data on 3-MCPD and glycidyl esters simply doesn't apply to traditionally made ghee.

So a saturated-fat contest is the wrong frame. The question that matters is: what comes alongside that fat? Here's the side-by-side.

Our observation: The science backs what Indian kitchens have known for centuries. Ghee isn't just fat; it's a carrier of nutrients that refined palm oil simply cannot deliver. When we chose A2 Gir Cow Ghee as the base for our spreads, the composition data confirmed what tradition already told us.

How Can You Spot Palm Oil on a Label?

Start by flipping the jar. The information is already there; you just have to read the ingredient list rather than the front-label claims. With clean-label demand rising sharply across India (Expert Market Research, 2025), knowing what to look for is your best defence.

Here's a quick check you can do in under 10 seconds:

1. Flip the jar. Read the ingredient list, not the marketing on the front.
2. Decode the oil. Watch for "palm oil," "palmolein," "palm kernel oil," "palm fat," and the vague "edible vegetable oil" or "vegetable fat." A brand that uses a premium oil almost always names it proudly.
3. Count the ingredients. Fewer ingredients usually means fewer fillers. A spread built on ghee, vinegar and spices looks very different from one built on palm oil, emulsifiers and stabilisers.

You don't have to wait for FSSAI's front-of-pack rules to take effect. The truth about your mayo is on the back of the jar today.

What About the Environmental Cost?

Palm oil's footprint reaches well beyond your plate. Indonesia and Malaysia together supply more than 85% of the world's palm oil (WWF-UK), and expansion has come at a steep cost to tropical forests. The Bornean orangutan population fell by more than 100,000 individuals between 1999 and 2015, driven largely by habitat loss and hunting, and the species was reclassified as Critically Endangered in 2016 (Voigt et al., Current Biology, 2018).

This can feel distant from a breakfast table in Mumbai or Ahmedabad. But India is the world's largest palm oil buyer, sourcing overwhelmingly from those same two countries. Every jar of mayo built on this ingredient is a small node in that supply chain.

Choosing a condiment made with domestically sourced ghee, particularly from Indian Gir cows, keeps that cycle closer to home and supports Indian dairy farmers rather than overseas plantations. Our Tandoori Spread, for instance, is built entirely on A2 Gir Cow Ghee sourced from Indian farms.

Is All Palm Oil Equally Problematic?

In fairness, no, and it's worth being honest about that. Palm is remarkably land-efficient: it supplies roughly 40% of the world's vegetable oil while using under 6% of the land given to all vegetable-oil crops, so alternative oils would need four to ten times more land to replace it (WWF-UK). Certification helps too. Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) standards cover about a fifth of global production, and peer-reviewed work found certification cut deforestation by roughly a third within certified concessions (Carlson et al., Nature Sustainability, 2018).

Unrefined red palm oil also retains carotenoids and tocotrienols (a form of vitamin E). It's the refining that strips nutrients and generates contaminants.

But here's the reality for Indian condiment buyers: the palm oil in your mayo jar is almost certainly refined. Industrial mayonnaise needs a neutral-flavoured, light-coloured fat, which means refined, bleached and deodorised palm oil, the form that carries the highest contaminant load. And ghee is no free pass either; it's high in saturated fat, so moderation matters with both. The honest case for ghee isn't that it's a health miracle. It's that you get real nutrients and clean processing alongside the fat, instead of process contaminants and a vague label.

Frequently Asked Questions

But isn't all saturated fat bad, including ghee?

Both palm oil and ghee are high in saturated fat, and the WHO advises keeping saturated fat under 10% of daily energy (WHO, 2023). So moderation applies to both. The difference isn't the saturated fat itself; it's that ghee delivers butyric acid, CLA and fat-soluble vitamins and avoids refining contaminants, while refined palm oil delivers the fat alone.

Does palm oil actually cause cancer?

No, that overstates it. Palm oil itself is not classified as a carcinogen. What EFSA and IARC flag are contaminants, chiefly glycidol (IARC Group 2A) and 3-MCPD (Group 2B), that form when oils are refined at high temperature, and these reach their highest levels in refined palm fats (EFSA, 2016). The concern is about refining, not the fruit.

How do I know if my mayo contains palm oil?

Check the ingredient list on the back, not the front label. Look for "palm oil," "palmolein," "palm kernel oil," or the generic "edible vegetable oil." In India, brands aren't currently required to specify which vegetable oil sits behind "edible vegetable oil," though the FSSAI's proposed labelling reforms aim to make fat content far more visible (The Print, 2024).

Is ghee-based mayo actually healthier than regular mayo?

Ghee-based mayo swaps refined palm or soya oil for whole ghee, which carries butyric acid, CLA and vitamins A, D, E and K2, and it avoids the contaminants formed during high-temperature oil refining. Both ghee and palm oil contain saturated fat, so portion size still matters. The advantage is what comes alongside the fat: nutrients and clean processing rather than process contaminants.

The Jar Tells the Story

The condiment market is shifting, and Indian shoppers are leading it, reading labels, asking questions, and rewarding brands that don't hide behind vague ingredient lists. Palm oil made sense when the only goal was the cheapest possible shelf-stable food. That goal is changing.

What needs to shift now is the industry's default. "Edible vegetable oil" shouldn't be an acceptable way to obscure what's really in a jar. As FSSAI's labelling reforms land and clean-label demand keeps climbing, the brands that name their ingredients proudly will be the ones consumers trust.

So next time you pick up a mayo jar, flip it. Read the ingredient list. Ask what oil is actually inside. That one habit is worth more than any front-label marketing. If you're curious what a palm-oil-free spread tastes like, try Gheeyonnaise Classic Spread, made with 100% A2 Gir Cow Ghee, or explore all five flavours and taste the difference clean ingredients make.

"Pure ingredients make honest food. When you flip our jar, the first fat you'll see is A2 Gir Cow Ghee. No palm oil. No soya oil. No fine print."

— Kehul Shah, Founder, Gheeyonnaise

Want to understand the science behind ghee's nutritional profile? Read our deep-dive: Is Ghee Healthy? What Science Says in 2026.