Guidelines for Collection of Used Cooking Oil from Food Business Operators by Biodiesel Manufacturers

Reusing cooking oil is a common practice in restaurants and roadside food joints. But this practice has an adverse effect on the health of the consumers. Approximately 23 million tons of cooking oil is consumed by the people in India annually. About 3 million tons of this can be recovered and used for the production of biodiesel and can help in preventing the environment and people. To cope up with this issue, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have formulated some rules and regulations that have come into effect from July 1.

“The performance of the oil during frying should be monitored by all Food Business Operators (FBOs) as per the laws, “said FSSAI in a press statement. It has also set up regulation for testing protocols for TPC (Total Polar Compound). TPC should be within a limit of 25 percent. Its level increases every time a cooking oil is re-heated. It is essential to track the related material of food used for frying products in to guarantee that the frying of products does not trigger negative safety effects. Repeatedly frying and reusing the same edible oil shifts its physiochemical, sensory and nutritional characteristics, this results in the formation of TPC, making it unsuitable and harmful for human consumption.

In cooking oil, higher levels of TPC lead to wellness problems such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and liver disease. One of the research also observed elevated concentrations of glucose, creatinine, and cholesterol in baking oil with declining protein and albumin concentrations.

In the present scenario, used cooking oil is neither discarded nor disposed of in such a manner that it may causes drain and sewer blockage and choking.Unfortunately, the absence of consciousness along with greed for spending less on food production promotes many unauthorized officers such as junk sellers to gather and blend used cooking oil with the new one. Heating oil to a stage where smoke fumes are produced can render it rancid. One of the dangerous stuff is to ruin the oil to the stage where it generates unwanted flavors and odors. It becomes dull and dense when oil is spoiled.

Guidelines of FSSAI for Collection of Used Cooking Oil

• As used cooking oil is regarded as the most sensible feed stock for the manufacturing of biodiesel, the FSSAI plans to redirect the used cooking oil from the meal company owners. To regulate all these issues “Guidelines for sale of Biodiesel for blending with high speed diesel for transportation purposes-2019” is issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. This is under the RUCO initiative.
• Meanwhile,biodiesel manufacturers may enroll themselves with FSSAI for collection of used cooking oil from FBO’s. For that they require three things:

1. License issued by Department of Industries and Commerce/District Industry Centre(DIC)
2. Annual return of previous financial year
3. An affidavit of the proof of the company is using UCO to produce Biodiesel

• Biodiesel manufacturers will . Submit the above-mentioned documents to the FSSAI regulatory Compliance Division with a copy to State FDA/State Biofuel or bioenergy Boards.
• FSSAI will maintain a directory of the agencies collecting UCO, and it will be available on the FSSAI website.
• Collection agencies will network with more than one Biodiesel Manufacturers and shall carry a copy of enrolment and copy of certificate letter issued by FSSAI to biodiesel manufacturer.
• The quarterly returns shall be submitted by Biodiesel Manufacturers to Regulatory Division of FSSAI and a copy to State FDA/State Biofuel or Bioenergy.The report should have all the details of quantity of collection of UCO, collection date,details of FBO from which UCO is collected, the quantity of biodiesel produced from UCO, the name of the collection agencies.
• After the biodiesel manufacturers are registered under State and Union Territories as per Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas then enrollment is not required with FSSAI.

Therefore, the FBO’s must regularly keep a check on the TPC levels of the oil used for cooking and frying.

References: 1.5cf8fe9068fc1Order_Used_Cooking_Oil_06_06_2019.pdf. Available at: https://fssai.gov.in/upload/advisories/2019/06/5cf8fe9068fc1Order_Used_Cooking_Oil_06_06_2019.pdf.Accessible on: 30.07.2019