Ghee is fat clarified from milk; "dalda" is the everyday name for vanaspati, a refined vegetable oil turned solid by hydrogenation. Hydrogenation creates industrial trans fat, which FSSAI has capped at 2 per cent by weight since 1 January 2022. The small amount of trans fat in ghee comes from the cow, not from a factory. Below: how each is made, what analyses found, and what the label must say.
Where this article touches health, it uses only the wording of the World Health Organization and FSSAI. If you have a heart condition, high cholesterol or any other medical condition, follow your doctor's or dietitian's advice on fats.
At a glance
- FSSAI standard 2.2.6 defines vanaspati as a refined edible vegetable oil subjected to hydrogenation or interesterification, and caps its trans fatty acids at 2 per cent by weight from 1 January 2022.
- The WHO's trans fat fact sheet puts trans fat in partially hydrogenated oil at 25 to 45 per cent on average, and asks adults to keep trans fat under 1 per cent of energy, or under 2.2 g a day on 2,000 kcal.
- An ICMR-NIN survey of 320 Indian oils and fats, including 45 vanaspati and 39 ghee samples (Dorni and others, Food Chemistry, 2018), found several vanaspati samples over the permitted trans fat limit and only traces in ghee.
- A review of bovine milk fat (Lindmark Månsson, 2008) puts trans fatty acids at about 2.7 per cent of fatty acids, mainly vaccenic acid; a 2024 analysis of shop-bought ghee in Iran measured 3.6 g per 100 g fat.
What is dalda, and how is it different from ghee?
Dalda is a brand name that has become the generic word for vanaspati, the way a brand name sometimes stands in for a product. Vanaspati is a vegetable oil made solid by hydrogenation. Ghee is clarified milk fat. They can look alike in the tin, but they are different foods under different FSSAI standards.
FSSAI's standard for milk fat products (regulation 2.1.8) describes ghee as a fatty product "derived exclusively from milk or products obtained from milk", at least 99.5 per cent milk fat, and gives it the label name "Ghee". Its standard for hydrogenated vegetable oils (regulation 2.2.6) defines vanaspati as "any refined edible vegetable oil or oils, subjected to a process of hydrogenation in any form or chemical or enzymatic interesterification". Our article on what desi ghee means explains why "desi" came to be attached to ghee at all: to tell milk fat apart from "vanaspati ghee".
How is vanaspati made, and where does the trans fat come from?
Vanaspati is made by hydrogenating a liquid vegetable oil. Hydrogen is added to the oil's unsaturated fatty acids, which turns the liquid into a fat that is solid at room temperature. The trans fat this process creates is what the WHO calls industrially produced trans fat.
The WHO's fact sheet describes the process as one "that adds hydrogen to vegetable oil, converting the liquid into a solid and resulting in partially hydrogenated oil (PHO)", and says that "on average, trans fat concentrations in PHO are 25–45%". The same page lists "Vanaspati ghee" among foods that contain industrially produced trans fat.
Ghee has no such step. Butter or cream is heated until the water boils off and the milk solids settle, leaving the fat. Whatever trans fat it carries was already in the milk: the WHO says trans fat "can also be found naturally in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals (e.g. cows, sheep, goats)".
How much trans fat is in vanaspati and in ghee?
Before India set limits, vanaspati was very high in trans fat; since 2022 it may legally contain no more than 2 per cent by weight. Ghee carries a few per cent of natural trans fatty acids, mostly vaccenic acid. The figures below come from the analyses and standards named in each row; none describes a particular jar or tin.
| What is compared | Desi ghee | Vanaspati ("dalda") |
|---|---|---|
| Source fat | Milk only; at least 99.5 per cent milk fat, no added flavour, colour or preservative (FSSAI 2.1.8). | Refined edible vegetable oils whose standards FSSAI prescribes (FSSAI 2.2.6). |
| Process | Heating to remove almost all water and milk solids-not-fat; no hydrogenation. | Hydrogenation "in any form", or chemical or enzymatic interesterification (FSSAI 2.2.6). |
| Trans fat, per cited analyses | About 2.7 per cent of milk fatty acids, mainly vaccenic acid (Lindmark Månsson, 2008); 3.6 g per 100 g fat in Iranian shop ghee (Mohammadi-Nasrabadi and others, 2024); "trace amount" in 39 Indian samples (Dorni, 2018). | Over 20 per cent of fatty acids in two vendor samples (Downs, 2015); "beyond the permitted limit" in several of 45 Indian samples (Dorni, 2018); 25 to 45 per cent on average in partially hydrogenated oil (WHO). Legal cap now 2 per cent by weight (FSSAI 2.2.6). |
| Labelling rules | Name of food: "Ghee" (FSSAI 2.1.8). Nutrition-panel trans fat excludes "naturally occurring trans fat" (FSSAI labelling regulations). | No colour resembling ghee; flavour distinct from ghee; sesame oil so the Baudouin test is positive (FSSAI 2.2.6). Must declare trans fat and saturated fat (FSSAI labelling regulations). |
Some cautions. The 2.7 per cent is a figure for bovine milk fat in general, from a review, not a measurement of Indian ghee. The 3.6 g per 100 g comes from 60 samples of butter, ghee and margarine bought in Tehran. The only Indian ghee figure we found is the "trace amount" in the ICMR-NIN survey of 320 oils and fats, with no number attached. The high vanaspati figures predate the limits; PubMed searches for "trans fatty acids vanaspati India" (9 results) and "vanaspati hydrogenated trans fat content" (5 results) found no analysis of Indian vanaspati made after the 2 per cent cap. For the saturated fat that makes up most of ghee, see whether ghee is saturated or unsaturated fat.
What does FSSAI allow in vanaspati, and what must the label say?
Three FSSAI rules cover trans fat. The vanaspati standard caps trans fatty acids at 2 per cent by weight from 1 January 2022. The sales regulations cap industrial trans fat at 2 per cent of the fat in any food made with oils or fats, from the same date. The labelling regulations make hydrogenated oils declare trans and saturated fat.
The standard sets the cap in steps: "Not more than 5 % by weight", then "not more than 3% by weight, on and from 1st January, 2021 and not more than 2% by weight, on and from 1st January, 2022". The Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011 add, by a notification dated 2 February 2021, that foods made with edible oils and fats "shall not contain industrial trans fatty acids more than 2% by mass of the total oils/fats present in the product, on and from 01st January, 2022". Those regulations define industrial trans fatty acids so that the term "excludes trans-fatty acids from dairy, meat, fish and their products", so the natural trans fat in ghee is outside it.
On the label, the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 say every package of "edible oils, interesterified vegetable fat, both hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, edible fats, margarine and fat spreads" must "declare the quantity of trans fat content and saturated fat content on the label", and that both "may be declared on the label as 'not more than'". In the nutrition panel, trans fat means trans fat "other than naturally occurring trans fat".
The vanaspati standard also keeps the product from passing as ghee: no colour "resembling the colour of ghee", any flavour "distinct from that of ghee", and enough sesame oil that the Baudouin test gives a colour "not lighter than 2.0 red units". Ghee must test negative on the same test, so the sesame oil works as a built-in marker for vanaspati in ghee; our article on ghee adulteration in India explains the tests.
What does the WHO say about trans fat?
The WHO recommends that adults keep trans fat under 1 per cent of total energy, says industrially produced trans fat "should be avoided", and asks governments to eliminate it from the food supply. It treats natural trans fat from ruminants as equally harmful, so ghee's trans fat is no point in its favour.
The fact sheet, updated in January 2024, puts the limit at "less than 2.2 g per day for a 2000-calorie diet" and adds: "More than 278 000 deaths each year globally can be attributed to intake of industrially produced trans fat", and "both industrially produced and naturally occurring trans fat are equally harmful". For governments it recommends a "mandatory national limit of 2 grams of industrially produced trans fat per 100 grams of total fat in all foods", or a ban on partially hydrogenated oils as an ingredient; India's 2 per cent rules match the first.
How do you tell ghee from vanaspati when buying?
Read the name of the food, then the nutrition panel. FSSAI requires the two products to be sold under different names, forbids ghee-like colour and flavour in vanaspati, and makes a hydrogenated fat declare its trans and saturated fat. Price and texture are weaker clues than the label.
- Check the name of the food. FSSAI gives the name "Ghee" to milk fat. "Vanaspati", "vegetable ghee" or "hydrogenated vegetable oil" means a plant fat under standard 2.2.6.
- Look for a trans fat declaration. Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils must declare trans fat and saturated fat; the figure may read "not more than".
- Read the ingredient list. Ghee's raw material is "milk and products obtained from milk". Vanaspati lists vegetable oils, must contain sesame oil, and must carry at least 25 IU of synthetic vitamin A per gram.
- Be wary of loose, unlabelled fat. In the Downs study, a sample sold as desi ghee in a village market had trans fat above 20 per cent of fatty acids, which the authors said "resembled vanaspati rather than ghee".
If you want a liquid cooking oil rather than a solid fat, the comparison changes, because refined oils are not hydrogenated. Our article on ghee versus refined oil covers what refining does and what FSSAI allows there.
The short version
Ghee is milk fat; dalda is a brand name used for vanaspati, a refined vegetable oil hardened by hydrogenation. Hydrogenation creates industrial trans fat, which the WHO says averages 25 to 45 per cent in partially hydrogenated oil. Since 1 January 2022 FSSAI caps trans fat in vanaspati at 2 per cent by weight. Ghee's trans fat is natural and small, about 2.7 per cent of milk fatty acids in one review and 3.6 g per 100 g fat in one analysis, but the WHO calls natural and industrial trans fat equally harmful. If you have a medical condition, your doctor's advice comes first.
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 (2023). Chapter 2.2: Fats, Oils and Fat Emulsions (2.2.6 Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils). Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Chapter 2.1: Dairy Products and Analogues (2.1.8 Standard for Milk Fat Products). Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (2025). Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, Version VIII. FSSAI.
- World Health Organization (2024). Trans fat. WHO fact sheets.
- Downs SM, Singh A, Gupta V, Lock K, Ghosh-Jerath S (2015). The need for multisectoral food chain approaches to reduce trans fat consumption in India. BMC Public Health.