Coimbatore: Food safety officials in the district are intensifying efforts to prevent the reuse of cooking oil by large hotels, bakeries, and sweet and savoury units, aiming to safeguard public health, reports The Times of India.
The campaign is part of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) initiative. Under this program, food businesses are encouraged to sell used cooking oil to authorized aggregators instead of reusing or reselling it. In the last four months alone, around 245 kilolitres of used cooking oil were collected from local businesses and converted into 192 kilolitres of biodiesel.
“Some big restaurants and bakeries were selling oil after first use to smaller food outlets. Reheated oil develops high levels of total polar compounds (TPC), which can cause oxidative stress and raise the risk of heart disease,” said Anuradha, the district’s designated food safety officer.
She explained that five approved RUCO aggregators now collect used oil from food businesses consuming more than 50 litres of oil per day. A total of 444 businesses are registered under the program, with over 100 joining in the past four months. The collected oil is sent to biodiesel manufacturers in Dharapuram, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kerala, who provide monthly reports to the FSSAI.
One of the aggregators, Geekay Bio Products, pays about ₹75 per litre of used oil. “We process it into biodiesel and supply it to oil marketing companies like Indian Oil. When the quantity is too low for biodiesel, we export it to Singapore for sustainable aviation fuel,” a company official said.
Doctors warn that reheating cooking oil can trigger harmful chemical reactions. “In the short term, it may cause acidity and indigestion, but over time it can lead to serious conditions such as stomach or oesophageal cancer,” a gastroenterologist noted.
