Agmark on a ghee pack means the ghee was graded by an authorised packer under the government's Ghee Grading and Marking Rules, 2024, and met one of three grades: Special, Standard or General. Each grade sets limits on moisture, milk fat, free fatty acids and purity tests. It is a quality grade, not a statement about breed, A2 milk or method.
This guide works from the rules as published in the Gazette of India on 16 July 2024 (notification G.S.R. 408(E) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare), set against the FSSAI ghee standard.
At a glance
- Agmark is a voluntary government grade under the Ghee Grading and Marking Rules, 2024, which replaced the 1938 rules; the legal minimum for all ghee is the FSSAI standard.
- Three grades: Special (moisture at most 0.30 per cent, milk fat at least 99.70, free fatty acids at most 1.0), Standard (the same except free fatty acids up to 1.5) and General (0.50, 99.50 and 2.0, matching FSSAI).
- All grades require a Reichert Meissl value of at least 24, a negative Baudouin test, no β-sitosterol and an iodine value of 25 to 38.
- The pack must carry the packer's certificate of authorisation number, the word AGMARK, the commodity and the grade, plus a batch number and dates.
- The grade says nothing about breed, A2 milk, feed or method, and does not say which contaminant tests the packer ran.
What does Agmark mean on a ghee pack?
Agmark is the grade mark of the Government of India for farm produce, issued under the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking) Act, 1937. On ghee, it shows that a packer holding a certificate of authorisation tested the batch and found it met one of the three grades set out in the Ghee Grading and Marking Rules, 2024.
An IGNOU dairy technology course, in its unit on the definition, composition and standards of ghee and butter oil, notes that the name comes from "Agricultural Marketing" and that the mark is the exclusive property of the Government of India, not a private trademark. The 2024 rules replaced the Ghee Grading and Marking Rules of 1938.
Under the 2024 rules, the mark itself is the "Agmark insignia". It must carry four things:
- the packer's certificate of authorisation (C.A.) number;
- the word "AGMARK";
- the name of the commodity, here ghee;
- the grade designation: Special, Standard or General.
The rules also list what else the package must show, including the lot or batch number, the date of manufacture or packing, nutritional information, net quantity, the authorised packer's name and address, the maximum retail price and an expiry or use-by date.
Is Agmark compulsory for ghee?
No. The IGNOU course describes Agmark standards as voluntary: producers or packers obtain them to assure consumers of pre-tested quality. The legal minimum for all ghee is the FSSAI ghee standard. A pack without Agmark can be entirely lawful, and a pack with it must meet both sets of requirements.
The 2024 rules show why Agmark is something a packer opts into. Grading is done only by an "authorised packer", meaning a person or body granted a certificate of authorisation under the General Grading and Marking Rules, 1988. A maker who never applies for that certificate simply sells ghee under the FSSAI standard alone.
What are the Agmark grades for ghee?
There are three: Special, Standard and General. Special and Standard share the same limits on moisture, milk fat and the butyro-refractometer reading, and differ only in free fatty acids. General has looser limits that match the FSSAI ghee standard. All three share the same Reichert Meissl minimum and Baudouin test.
The table sets the 2024 grade criteria beside the FSSAI ghee standard, as given in the FSSAI compendium dated 20 December 2022.
| Parameter | Special | Standard | General | FSSAI ghee standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moisture, maximum | 0.30% | 0.30% | 0.50% | 0.5% |
| Milk fat, minimum | 99.70% | 99.70% | 99.50% | 99.5% |
| Free fatty acids as oleic acid, maximum | 1.0% | 1.5% | 2.0% | 2.0% |
| Butyro-refractometer reading at 40 °C | 40.0 to 43.0 | 40.0 to 43.0 | 40.0 to 44.0 | 40.0 to 44.0 |
| Reichert Meissl value, minimum | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24.0 |
| Polenske value | 1.0 to 2.0 | 1.0 to 2.0 | 0.5 to 2.0 | 0.5 to 2.0 |
| Baudouin test | Negative | Negative | Negative | Negative |
| Iodine value | 25 to 38 | 25 to 38 | 25 to 38 | 25 to 38 |
| Saponification value | 205 to 235 | 205 to 235 | 205 to 235 | 205 to 235 |
| β-sitosterol | Absent | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Two differences are easy to picture. On moisture, Special and Standard allow at most 3 g of water in a kilogram of ghee (0.30 per cent of 1,000 g), against 5 g for General (0.50 per cent of 1,000 g). On free fatty acids, Special allows half of what General does: 1.0 per cent against 2.0 per cent.
The grade names have changed over time. The IGNOU course, written while the 1938 rules were in force, describes "Special" as the Agmark red label and "General" as the green label, with "Standard" set at the legal minimum of the day. Under the 2024 rules, Standard sits between Special and General. Read the grade on the pack against the current rules, not older descriptions.
What do the grade tests actually measure?
Some measure condition and some measure identity. Moisture is the water left after clarification, and free fatty acids show how far the fat has broken down. Values such as the butyro-refractometer reading and the Baudouin test help show whether the fat is milk fat or has been mixed with a cheaper fat.
FSSAI's manual of analysis methods describes free fatty acids as a measure of how much fat has been split by hydrolysis, and notes that the sensory quality of ghee falls as the figure rises. It gives fresh ghee 0.09 to 0.28 per cent, well inside even the Special limit. The Baudouin test turns pink when sesame oil is present; a 1962 notification required vanaspati to contain at least 5 per cent sesame oil so that this test could detect it in ghee. The same manual notes that most vegetable fats and oils have a higher butyro-refractometer reading than milk fat. Our guide to reading a ghee lab report takes each value in turn.
Beyond the table, Schedule II of the rules sets minimum requirements for every grade. Graded ghee must:
- be clarified milk fat that is clear and transparent at 40 °C;
- have a natural, pleasant odour and agreeable taste;
- be free from rancidity, turbidity and any suspended or foreign matter;
- be free from separated water, sediment, added colour and added flavouring;
- be free from synthetic oil or fat, mineral oil and animal fat other than milk fat.
The rules also require graded ghee to meet the fatty acid composition in the FSSAI regulations, and, for sale in India, the FSSAI limits on metal contaminants, pesticide residues and other contaminants. Those limits are not grade criteria in the table, and the mark itself does not say which tests a packer ran for them.
What must an Agmark ghee packer do?
The 2024 rules set conditions beyond the grade limits. The packer's premises must have an in-house laboratory, run by a chemist approved by the Agricultural Marketing Adviser, that can test raw materials for adulterants and analyse the finished ghee. Records of analytical reports on milk, milk fat and ghee must be kept.
The rules name adulterants the laboratory must be able to detect in raw materials: preservatives, cane sugar, urea, caustic soda, starch and vegetable oil, among others. No fat or oil other than ghee, and no artificial flavouring or colouring, may be kept where the ghee is made.
The certificate of authorisation is granted only to those who make ghee from milk in dairy plants with a minimum of infrastructure. The rules list a permanent building with smooth, crack-free floors, adequate water, drainage and power, and separate rooms for storing packed ghee.
Can Agmark ghee say cow or buffalo on the label?
Yes. The 2024 rules allow graded ghee to be declared as cow ghee or buffalo ghee if it is made from the milk fat, butter or cream of that animal's milk. For this, the authorised packer must keep proper records of milk procurement. The grade limits themselves are the same for cow and buffalo ghee.
The rules provide no grade for a particular breed, region or feeding system.
What does an Agmark grade not tell you?
It does not tell you the breed of cow, whether the milk was A1 or A2, whether the ghee was churned from curd or made from cream, or how the cattle were fed. None of these is a grade criterion in the 2024 rules. A grade is evidence about composition and purity, not about origin or method.
Some practical limits follow from that:
- A2 claims are outside the scheme. The rules do not mention A1 or A2 milk anywhere, and nothing in the grade table relates to it.
- Method claims are outside the scheme. The rules cover ghee made from milk, butter or cream, or a combination, and give no separate grade for the bilona or any other method.
- A grade belongs to a batch. The rules require a lot or batch number on each pack. A grade applies to graded ghee, not to everything a brand sells.
- A missing mark is not a fault. Ghee without Agmark still has to meet the FSSAI standard. The question is what evidence the maker gives instead.
Home tests have their own limits, covered in our guide on how to tell if ghee is pure. For any ghee, Agmark or not, the most direct evidence is a laboratory report tied to the batch code on your jar. Every Himdhara jar carries a batch code, and the report for each batch is published on the lab reports page before that batch ships.
How should you use Agmark when buying ghee?
Use it as one piece of evidence about quality, not as a ranking of brands. Read the grade, check that a C.A. number and a batch number are printed, and compare the grade with the table above. Then look separately for evidence behind any claim about breed, A2 milk or method.
Two packs of the same grade met the same limits, so the grade cannot separate them. A Special pack was graded against tighter limits than a General one. If a pack carries no mark, ask for a batch report instead. The same questions apply to our own A2 bilona ghee: judge it by its batch report, not by its label alone.
The short version
Agmark is a voluntary government grade mark, and for ghee it is governed by the Ghee Grading and Marking Rules, 2024. There are three grades: Special and Standard share tight limits and differ only on free fatty acids, while General matches the FSSAI standard that all ghee must meet. Graded ghee also comes with conditions on the packer, such as an approved chemist and records of analytical reports. The mark says nothing about breed, A2 milk, method or feed.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2022). Compendium: Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, version XXVI. FSSAI.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2015). Manual of Methods of Analysis of Foods: Milk and Milk Products. FSSAI.