Calcutta, Oct. 7 :    Calcutta, Oct. 7:  The civic health department will restrict the re-use of tin containers for packing edible oils and vanaspati on health grounds after the Pujas. Mayor Subrata Mukherjee asked the member mayor-in-council (health) Javed Ahmed Khan to convene a meeting with oil millers and vanaspati manufacturers before imposing a ban. The meeting will be held after Lakshmi Puja. The Central government decided to restrict the re-use of tin containers after adulterated mustard oil caused dropsy in Delhi in September 1998. Consequently, the relevant section of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act as amended. 'We will simply enforce the provisions made by the Central government in the recent amendment to the Prevention of Food Adulteration (PFA) Act,' said member mayor-in-council (health) Javed Ahmed Khan. While the Federation of West Bengal Trade Association (FWBTA) welcomed the decision, the Bengal Oil Millers Association (BOMA) described it as 'impractical for a developing country like India.' However, both FWBTA and BOMA apprehend that it would cause further escalation in the retail prices of edible oils and vanaspati, at least by one rupee per kilo. Chief municipal health officer, Dr Sujit Ghosh, said the gazette notification of the amendment has already been made by the Centre. The enactment strictly prohibits the use of used containers for selling and marketing edible oils. Ghosh said there is always a risk of contamination in re-using a container for edible oils. Moreover, it becomes difficult to determine the actual source of contamination. The total output of mustard oil of the 800 oil mills in the state is around 4.4 lakh. But this is only 20 per cent of the total demand in the state. 'It is a Rs 4000 crore mustard oil market,' said a spokesman of BOMA. At least 60 per cent of the total 16 crore 16-kilo tins of mustard oil which are sold every year in West Bengal were in used containers. Javed Khan said the risk of contamination was high as there were no strict quality control measures before reusing a tin container in packing edible oils. Recently, some traders told the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) that the ban will enforce a price hike of Rs three per kilo of mustard oil. 'It is absurd and highly exaggerated. They are quoting new prices for extra profit,' said a health official. According to estimates by CMC, the ban might increase the prices of mustard oil and vanaspati by Rs 1.25 in the city.