The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has launched Repurpose Used Cooking Oil campaign to enable collection and conversion of used oil into biofuel.
‘Long-term ingestion of food prepared using such oil can cause hypertension, diabetes, acidity, stroke and cancer’
Oil used for frying and discarded by hotels are often used for varied purposes. The height of the reuse of frying oil came to light when officials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) stumbled upon several litres of used oil that were converted to pooja oil at Vellakovil in Tiruppur a few years ago.
The ‘manufacturers’ had sourced frying oil, used for frying items ranging from banana chips to chilly chicken, and converted it to pooja oil by adding scent and making other alterations.
Even after a year the FSSAI introduced regulations to avoid reuse of cooking oil, the enforcement is yet to come into effect.
As per the regulations, the oil used for frying should not be used for any form of cooking if the Total Polar Compounds (TPC), a benchmark for measuring the degradation of the oil when heated, is beyond 25 %. As per the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration) First Amendment Regulation 2017, the oil is not suitable for use if TPC is above 25 % . Also, used oil should not be topped with fresh oil.
According to FSSAI, repeated frying of oil leads to changes in physiochemical, nutritional and sensory properties of edible oil and the toxicity of TPCs is associated with several diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and liver diseases.
“Repeated heating of oil reduces the natural antioxidant level. Regular consumption of foods prepared using reheated oil can compromise antioxidant defence system in body. Long-term ingestion of food prepared using reused oil can cause hypertension, diabetes, acidity, stroke and cancer,” said P. Guhan, consultant medical oncologist and director of Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Oncology and Research.
Tamilselvan, Designated Officer of FSSAI in Coimbatore, said that the food regulator had instructed hoteliers, who used more than 50 litres of oil a day for frying, to strictly comply with the regulations and discard used oil to agencies that make biofuel out of it.
“Around 150 food business operators including bakers and hoteliers, who use more than 50 litres of oil a day for frying, have been identified by FSSAI. We have instructed them to comply with the regulations. We are also in the process of implementing Repurpose Used Cooking Oil, an initiative by FSSAI that will enable the collection and conversion of used cooking oil to biofuel,” he said.
M. Sivakumar, Secretary of Coimbatore District Hoteliers Association, said that members of the association were aware of the regulations and the health hazards of reuse of oil.
“Earlier, we used to sell the used oil to soap manufacturers. But we understood that the buyers may use such oil for other purposes. Members of the association have extended support to discard frying oil in safe manner as directed by FSSAI,” he said.
Dr. Tamilselvan added that food safety officers would check the TPC level in frying oils using a device by conducting random checks in restaurants and other places.
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