Bengaluru: The food safety and drug administration (FDA) department is set to introduce a traceability app that will track the movement of used cooking oil for ensuring its safe collection and disposal.“Repeatedly reheating cooking oil poses serious health risks. However, no matter how many raids and inspections we conduct, this practice continues. Bigger establishments sell their used oil to smaller establishments, which buy it because it is available at a cheaper rate. This is why we are introducing a traceability app, which will be ready in the next three months,” health minister UT Khader said Thursday.The use of the app will be made mandatory for manufacturers, wholesalers and all food business operators (FBOs). “The app will contain details of where the oil is manufactured, who the wholesalers are and who their buyers are,” Khader said.All FBOs, including hotels, restaurants and bakeries, will have to record the quantity of cooking oil procured and the volume of used oil sold exclusively to Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)-authorised Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) agencies.Khader said the quantity of used cooking oil handed over to authorised agencies must be at least 10-15% of the total cooking oil purchased by an FBO in a month. “If a hotel purchases 300 litres of cooking oil, at least 30-45 litres of used cooking oil should be handed over to an authorised agency,” he said.The app will initially be launched as a pilot project in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru and Hubballi before being extended across the state.“Used cooking oil can be repurposed as aviation fuel, biodiesel and even as lamp oil. We are also writing to the Centre seeking relaxation of FSSAI rules on cooking oil exports. The objective is to ensure that used cooking oil does not find its way back into kitchens,” he said.Cooking oil with total polar compounds (TPC) exceeding the permissible limit of 25% cannot be reused for food preparation. The minister said Karnataka had collected more than 91 lakh litres of used cooking oil from FBOs since 2022 and handed it over to authorised agencies.In the next phase, the initiative will be extended to households through door-to-door collection of used cooking oil. “It will be similar to door-to-door collection of dry and wet waste,” Khader said.Doctors must display degree certificatesKhader said allopathic doctors would henceforth be required to display their MBBS degree certificates outside their clinics to help ensure patient safety.The move comes in the wake of a recent incident at Uttarahalli, where an Ayurveda practitioner running a clinic allegedly prescribed steroids to a woman suffering from cough and cold.With concerns mounting over Ayurveda and homeopathy practitioners prescribing allopathic medicines, Khader said displaying degree certificates prominently would help patients distinguish qualified allopathic doctors from unqualified practitioners.
