Govt needs to effectively implement its order on 3-time use of cooking oil by halwais

Even though the government has been promoting the sale of the three-time used cooking oil by halwais and street-food vendors to private companies for industry using furnaces and bio-diesel, many of them continue to use it for cooking purposes, compromising the health of consumers. And its ultimate putting into drains leads to the clogging of drains.

It is an established fact that during frying, several properties of oil are altered and total polar compounds (TPCs) are formed on repeated frying.

According to Dr US Dewan, the reheating of same cooking oil makes it rancid as its chemical composition changes, unfit and harmful for human consumption. The toxicity of these compounds is associated with several diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and liver diseases. Therefore, it is essential to monitor the quality of vegetable oils during frying, he cautioned.

Sumit Singh, a retired Railways employee, said the authorities hardly make the halwais and street-vendors concerned aware of disposing of the cooking oil after using the same lot thrice. When repeated heated cooking oil is drained directly into the pipes, without proper treatment, it changes its state and solidifies, causing the problem of clogging, which chokes the sewage disposal.

He said thousands of outlets in nooks and corners of the city were engaged in dishing out pooris, pakodas and other fried products. Hardly any of them change the oil three times after cooking. A majority of the people engaged in the vocation are unaware of this and keep continuing the practice, he observed.

Piyush Kapoor of the Amritsar Hospitality and Restaurant Association (AHARA) said in the hospitality industry, all luxury and reputed hotels and restaurants were already selling the used cooking oil to private companies which, in turn, use this in preparing washing soaps and other non-edible commodities. Processed and clean rancid oil is then added into bio-diesel in running gensets and those industries using furnaces. He said it can also be used in driving diesel-run automobile vehicles, provided some desired changes were made in it.

District Health Officer Dr Rajinderpal Singh said the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) was promoting the disposal of the used cooking oil to ensure safety of the people. He said the department was regularly inspecting and sampling cooking oil to verify the Total Polar Compounds (TPCs) in them. He added that any oil having more than 25 per cent of the TPCs were fined and their cases were sent to the court of the ADC. When asked, he said he did not have an exact figure of the detected cases for the same.

In order to safeguard the consumer health, the FSSAI has fixed a limit for Total Polar Compounds at 25 per cent beyond which the vegetable oil would not be used. All food business operators (FBOs) were required to monitor the quality of oil during frying by complying with the said regulations. He added that the department was diverting used cooking oil from the food value chain to curb the current illegal practices.