Around 60,000 litres of used cooking oil was collected from hotels and restaurants in Ernakulam over the past 10 months and sent for conversion as bio-diesel under the Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) initiative of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Two aggregators authorised by the Food Safety department had collected used cooking oil from January to October. The department ensured that the oil was sent for conversion as bio-diesel. The aggregator concerned buys the used cooking oil at ₹54 a litre from the supplier.
The FSSAI had launched RUCO to check the usage of used cooking oil after inspections revealed that used cooking oil was not properly disposed. It was mostly used by small restaurants and street vendors as the availability of used oil at negligible price helped them offer products at attractive rates.
The FSSAI had said that the formation of total polar compounds following repeated frying was harmful to health. It was also found that used cooking oil was discarded in an environmentally hazardous manner.
Officials of the Food Safety department said they had received enquiries from agencies interested in joining the empanelled list of aggregators. A leading oil company has also shown interest in collecting the used cooking oil for conversion as bio-diesel, they added.
