Related Articles:

Dec 18    Board records statement in cheap cooking oil issue
Dec 17    Govt ‘no’ to recycled oil
Dec 17    Palm Oil Board officers interview Ratna Devi over gutter oil
Dec 13    Set standards for testing of cooking oil quality, govt urged
Dec 13    Recycled oil sold as new

Dec 13, 2011

PETALING JAYA: The oil in the food you eat may well have been recycled and meant for diesel engines or some other industrial use.

Unscrupulous manufacturers buy repeatedly used cooking oil from restaurants and process it for sale in 1kg packets.

As it is cheap, it is popular not just among the public. Many food outlets buy the used oil in new packaging while livestock farmers use it for animal feed.

Thus, the meat they sell, cooked with the oil, is doubly hazardous to your health.

Tests on 19 brands sold at grocery stores and supermarkets nationwide showed the oil to be unsafe for human consumption, according to the Malaysian Association of Standards Users.


Don’t use oil more than once, warns poison centre

Dec 13, 2011 - PETALING JAYA: Repeatedly used cooking oil can cause hypertension, affect the liver and may in the long run lead to cancer, the National Poison Centre has warned.

Centre consultant Dr T. Jayabalan said cooking oil should not be used even twice.

“When used repeatedly, the concentration of hydrocarbons in the oil increases and these can clog and stiffen arteries, causing hypertension and also affect the liver,” he said in a phone interview.

“Many people do not discard the oil after using it once. They put it in a container to be used again before they finally dispose of it,” Dr Jayabalan said.

“No level of contamination should be allowed. There is no basis for a permissible level of recyling for oil meant for human consumption.”

Recycled oil sold as new

Dec 13, 2011 - PETALING JAYA: The cooking oil that you buy at a grocery store or a supermarket near you in a 1kg packet may have been recycled.

Tests conducted on 19 brands of the “cheap” oil sold nationwide revealed that repeated exposure to high temperatures had made it unfit for human consumption, the Malaysian Association of Standards Users said.
Unsafe: Ratna Devi showing one of the 1kg oil packets that are sold at low prices.

Manufacturers are believed to have bought the oil used in restaurants through middlemen and processed it for re-sale.

The association sent the samples for “polar compound testing” to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, which found all 19 brands falling short of international standards, its CEO Ratna Devi Nadarajan told The Star.


Too costly to turn cooking oil into biodiesel, says middleman

Dec 13, 2011 - PETALING JAYA: Most of the used cooking oil collected from kitchens are no longer recycled for biodiesel because of the high cost involved, according to a middleman.

The middleman, who only wanted to be known as Lee, said the oil he collected from hotels and restaurants here was used in animal feed.

“It is too expensive to recycle oil into biodiesel.

“It does not make economic sense,” he said, adding that he usually collected the used oil upon receiving orders from his “clients” via phone calls.

When asked if he knew of people who recycle the used oil for human consumption, he declined to comment.

“I do not do it, but others may be doing it,” he said.


Set standards for testing of cooking oil, govt urged

Dec 13, 2011 - PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry must set standards for the testing of cooking oil sold in the market.

“At the moment, we do not have a standard testing method for total polar compounds (TPC),” said Malaysian Association of Standards Users CEO Ratna Devi Nadarajan.

She said it was important to include a requirement for TPC in the country's regulations as it was an important indicator of the oil quality.

She said there were not many countries around the world that had national regulations controlling the level of polar compounds in frying oils.

“Even if we do not buy the cheap oil, we still consume it when we eat out at restaurants and hotels,” she said.

Ratna Devi added that many Malaysians preferred to buy the packet oils because it was cheaper than the others sold in the market.


Board records statement in cheap cooking oil issue

Dec 18, 2011 - PETALING JAYA: Officers from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) recorded a statement from Malaysian Association of Standards Users chief executive officer Ratna Devi Nadarajan in connection with tests which revealed that cheap cooking oil unfit for human consumption was being sold to the public.

MPOB officers went to the association’s office here yesterday and made copies of proof that samples had been sent for laboratory tests.

“They took down the list of companies involved and also proof of purchase of the samples,” she said, adding that MPOB also obtained the certificate of analysis of tests carried out by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

The Star reported that 19 brands of cooking oil sold nationwide in 1kg packets were found to be unfit for consumption due to repeated exposure to high temperatures.

The association, which pursued the study of the commodity with UKM, believed that the re-packaged oil was meant to be recycled into biodiesel for use in diesel engines.

Ratna Devi stood firm in the association’s decision to send samples of cooking oil for the “polar compound testing”, saying it was a matter of food safety.

She said the association had no intention to attack the palm oil industry, adding that it wanted to see improvements to the regulations pertaining to the standards of cooking oil.

“We only hope the test would bring the serious matter to the attention of the authorities,” she said.

MPOB chairman Datuk Seri Shahrir Samad confirmed that the list of the 19 brands involved had been obtained from the association.

He gave assurance that MPOB was collecting the samples for its own tests.

“It’s not wrong for them to conduct their own tests. We are taking the situation se-riously,” he said


Govt ‘no’ to recycled oil

Dec 17, 2011- PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry has reassured Malaysians that it will not condone the use or sale of recycled cooking oil for human consumption in the country.

Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who gave the reassurance, also urged members of the public who have information about such practice to bring it to the ministry's attention.

“Please give us the samples so that we can take immediate action,” he said on reports of recycled cooking oil being sold at grocery stores and supermarkets.

Liow said those who are involved in the sale of recycled oil can be liable to a fine not exceeding RM20,000 or jail not exceeding five years under the Food Act 1983.

Liow said the ministry did not find any evidence of recycled oil after it checked 40 samples, including those sold in plastic bags in Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Kedah, Sabah, Terengganu and Sarawak.

On the 19 brands of cooking oil that were said to contain compounds indicative of the presence of recycled oil, he said the ministry was going to conduct checks on the factories that manufactured them because the consumer group which highlighted the matter did not keep any extra samples.

Malaysian Association of Standards Users CEO Ratna Devi Nadarajan said the association had already given the ministry all the reports on lab tests done on the 19 brands after The Star reported on its findings.

“We found out from the lab tests that there were high levels of total polar compounds (TPCs) in the cooking oil samples, and research has shown that these compounds can be present in oil that has been through high temperatures,” said Ratna Devi.

“That is why we wanted the Health Ministry to look into it. Our findings are not meant as accusations (against anyone) but we would like to initiate some form of investigation into the quality of cooking oil (that is sold to consumers),” she said.


Palm Oil Board officers interview Ratna Devi over gutter oil

Dec 17, 2011 - PETALING JAYA: Officers from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) recorded a statement from the Malaysian Association of Standards Users CEO Ratna Devi Nadarajan in connection with its tests that revealed that cheap cooking oil unfit for human consumption was being sold to the public.

The officers came to the association office in Sungai Way here on Saturday and made copies of proof that samples were sent for laboratory tests.

“They took down the list of companies involved and also proof of purchase of the samples,” she said, adding that MPOB also obtained the certificate of analysis of the test from the lab under Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

The Star reported that 19 brands of cooking oil sold nationwide in 1kg packets were found to be unfit for consumption due to repeated exposure to high temperatures.

The association, which pursued the study of the commodity with UKM, believed that the repackaged oil was meant to be recycled into biodiesel for use in diesel engines.

Ratna Devi stood firm over the association's decision to send samples of cooking oil for the “polar compound testing”, saying it was a matter of food safety.

She said the association had no intention of attacking the palm oil industry but had the good intention of wanting to see improvements to the regulations pertaining to the standards of cooking oil.

“We only hope that the test brings this serious matter to the attention of the authorities. The Health Ministry must act to ensure that cooking oil that is not fit for human consumption are not sold to consumers,” she said.

When contacted, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) chairman Datuk Seri Shahrir Samad confirmed that the list of the 19 brands involved have been obtained from the Malaysian Association of Standard Users.

He gave the assurance that MPOB was collecting the samples for its own tests.

“It is not wrong for them to conduct their own tests. We are taking the situation seriously as we want to verify the presence of recycled oil,” he said, adding that MPOB was not being defensive about the issue.

Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) president Datuk N. Marimuthu defended the tests, saying it was done by a lab that is accredited by the Department of Standards Malaysia under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

He said Fomca was only concerned about the safety of Malaysians who consume these items.

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