Used cooking oil, a silent threat to consumer health

Tonnes of harmful waste cooking oil (WCO), one of the biggest sources of harmful trans fats in food, is being reused in hotels and restaurants due to a lack of proper management and negligence for profit-seeking corporate companies.

Waste cooking oil is generated when edible vegetable oil is used for frying food items. On average, the production of such harmful oil in the country is more than one lakh tonnes annually, according to an analysis of Malaysian Palm Oil Council data.

However, only 2,500-3,000 tonnes of WCO are being managed every year as most of the waste oil is being black marketed and reused in small hotel restaurants or roadside food stalls violating laws.

According to the Food Safety Act, all used oil must be disposed of or managed in some other way without harming the environment.

“We have an anti-trans fat law. Besides, the use of used oil is also prohibited according to the Food Safety Act. According to law, used oil needs to be managed by destroying them in such a way that is not harmful for the environment. Another method of managing the waste oil can be to sell it to those who use them as raw material to make biofuel,” Professor Md Abdul Alim, member, Food Industry and Production, Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BSFA), told The Business Post.

In reality though, only a small amount of waste cooking oil is currently being properly managed.

Some companies are buying WCO to recycle the used oil for producing and exporting environment-friendly biodiesel. But the amount is quite low.

Officials of the companies said it is not possible to buy used oil from many big corporate companies due to various problems, including price difference with black market and lack of awareness.

Industry insiders blame a lack of coordination between public and private organisations and trading of loose oil as some of the reasons why waste cooking oil is being reused over and over again.

Proper regulatory initiatives in this regard will help save the environment and reduce risk to human health from trans-fat. In addition, producing biofuels using the waste oil can earn remittance for the country.

Corporate cos are the big producers

According to stakeholders, the biggest source of used oil is the big corporate companies that produce various foods including chips, chanachur, biscuits, etc. In addition, small bakery shops, fast food manufacturing companies and hotel restaurants also produce waste cooking oil.

At present, there is no official data about how much cooking oil is wasted annually in the country. But according to WCO collecting companies, 25-30 per cent of the total edible oil used in the industry is wasted every year. In the developed countries, one-third of the oil used in the industry is considered as waste.

According to the import data of Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, and Bangladesh Customs, the country uses a total of 22-24 lakh tonnes of edible oil annually. Of this, 4-5 lakh tonnes are used in food processing, and in hotel restaurants.

According to a 2020 study by the recently defunct Malaysian Palm Oil Council’s Dhaka office, Bangladesh uses 200,000 tonnes of cooking oil in food processing and 200,000 tonnes is used by hotels and restaurants.

Accordingly, the amount of WCO produced in the country annually stands at 1-1.2 lakh tonnes.

Of the total produced WCO, Austria-based biodiesel manufacturing company Muenzer Bangla Private Limited and local company Biotech Energy Limited collect 2,800-3,000 tonnes per year with the help of the BSFA. In addition, the BSFA collects or seizes used oil by raiding at various times.

Biofuel production

Biotech Energy, established with the financial support of A2I, and Muenzer Bangla collect used oil from four divisions including Dhaka. After collecting, Muenzer exports the whole amount to Austria and Biotech uses some of it as raw material for biodiesel and exports some of it to various countries including Europe.

The two organisations approach various food processing companies and large restaurants themselves and enter into preliminary contracts for the collection of their used oil. After that they deliver their prescribed drums to the WCO producing companies. Those companies store oil in them, which is periodically brought by representatives of Muenzer Bangla or Biotech Energy.

According to officials of the two companies, they buy used oil at the rate of Tk 50-60 per kg. However, the price fluctuates at times.

Obstacles

Muenzer’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Gautam Abhee Barua said, “We are still unable to procure used oil from many large food processing companies. They sell to third parties for higher prices. Most of those who take it sell it back to restaurants or street food vendors. Meaning, the used oil is being reused for frying foods, which is very harmful to health.

“Our main problem now is the high price of used oil. Although the government fixed rate of used oil is Tk 55 per litre, companies can sell the waste oil in the open market or to third parties at Tk 80-90 per litre. That’s why many people do not sell to us.”

According to food stall owners of different areas in the capital, including Bailey Road, they can sell waste oil for Tk 100-110 per litre to the poor people of the adjacent areas.

Another big obstacle in managing waste oil is lack of awareness.

Abdullah Al Hamid, founder of Biotech Energy, said, “According to our analysis, 30 per cent of the oil used in the food industry is wasted. But our monthly collection is only around 120 tonnes. We cannot collect the rest due to various reasons.”

As long as businesses do not start caring more about consumers’ health than making profit and

The sale of used oil in black market will not be stopped until businesses start caring more about people’s health than making profit, and become aware of the harm done by the waste oil, said Hamid.

“If we buy used oil at a higher price and use it to make diesel, the cost will be very high. We cannot afford it.”

Meanwhile, Restaurant Owners Association Secretary General Imran Hossain said there is a lack of coordination between the stakeholders.

He said, “We also know that used oil is harmful to health. But we have no power to force restaurants not to use these oils. Besides, when the authorities conduct raids, they do not take any representatives of association along with them.

“No one calls us to attend any awareness programmes. Even those who are collecting oil do not seek any cooperation from our association. Hence, we do not know why any restaurant does not want to sell used oil to them.”