Haryana ropes in firm to turn unfit cooking oil into biodiesel

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 22

To ensure cooking oil isn’t reused multiple times by eateries, the Haryana Food and Drug Administration has started a plan to collect the unhealthy product from food business outlets and convert it into biodiesel.

As part of the government’s Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) scheme, the FDA authorities have tied up with a Rewari-based firm, BioD Energy India Private Limited, to collect the reused oil from outlets selling ‘samosas’, ‘breadpakoras’ and other fried items.

The FDA has identified 57 dealers across Haryana who have been using more than 50 litres of oil daily. Seven of these are in Gurugram and Palwal, six in Faridabad, five in Panipat, four each in Sonepat, Kaithal and Rewari and all outlets of McDonald’s and Burger King.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the country’s top regulator, has identified 11 bio-diesel manufacturers across the country—the Rewari firm being one of them—for collecting the oil and converting it into bio-diesel. Another way of disposing the oil is by selling it to industrial houses that manufacture products like soaps. But, such oil at times finds its way from big shops to roadside vendors or poor households at a cheaper rate.

“The cooking oil shouldn’t be used more than thrice for frying as it breaks down into unhealthy total polar compounds (TPCs). Other unhealthy indicators are formation of tough foam, oil turning dark and murky or change in oil’s consistency,” said DK Sharma, FDA Joint Commissioner. He said the scheme would be extended to outlets that use up to 2 litres of oil daily.

According to experts, several properties of oil are altered during frying. The toxicity of TPCs is associated with several diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s and liver diseases. “Apart from heart-related ailments, reused oil can cause cancer,” said Manisha Arora, senior dietitian, Government Multi-Speciality Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh. The FSSAI rules also suggest that food outlets cannot reuse cooking oil more than thrice. The regulator has fixed 25 per cent limit for TPCs, beyond which vegetable oil cannot be used.

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