Repurpose Used Cooking Oil intervention to improve health – Indore, India

Key Insights

  • Recycling used cooking oil for a healthy environment and healthy people
  • Using technology to help improve food systems and encourage people to use fresh cooking oil
  • Converting used cooking oil to biodiesel

Summary

Indore is famous for its street food for which cooking oil is used repeatedly to fry food. This used cooking oil (UCO), if eaten, can lead to health problems, such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and liver diseases. To protect the environment and consumer health, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO), which was adopted by the City of Indore in 2022. Simultaneously, a RUCO app was developed for restaurateurs to notify when used cooking oil can be collected. In return, restaurants are given 30 IndiaRs per litre of oil. To encourage the RUCO project, FSSAI provide a logo, which can be seen by the public, to the restaurant registering with the project, highlighting that they are providing food fried with fresh oil. The collected oil is turned into biodiesel.

This is an ongoing project and has been taken up by multiple cities around India.

 

 

Citation

Food Action Cities. (2023, October 28). Repurpose Used Cooking Oil intervention to improve health – Indore, India,  Food Action Cities. https://foodactioncities.org/case-studies/repurpose-used-cooking-oil-intervention-to-improve-health–indore-india/

The city of Indore, India is part of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. 

 

 

 

indore india by James Sutton jamessutton_photography
Indore india by James Sutton: jamessutton_photography

The action and its aims

RUCO was introduced with the aim to ensure food safety and improved health for consumers in the City of Indore. Used cooking oil is collected by authorised agencies and changed into biodiesel. In return restaurants are paid 30 IndiaRs per litre of oil.

When it was introduced

RUCO was introduced in 2022 by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and adopted by the City of Indore.

Why it was needed

From 1990 to 2016, India experienced a substantial rise in deaths attributed to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), rising from 37.9% to 61.8%. An unhealthy diet is one of the four primary risk factors. In India, 60% of used cooking oil (UCO) makes its way back into the food chain. The City of Indore has shown that reused cooking oil becomes unfit for people to consume and it increases the risk of diseases, such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, liver diseases. To ensure food safety, authorised agencies collect the used cooking oil, which is then turned into biodiesel.

Who initiated it, who is involved

RUCO was launched by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and adopted by the City of Indore. 

Impacts to date

The project is ongoing. RUCO has been taken up by more cities around India. For instance in Ernakulam, in 10 months approximately 60.000 litres of used cooking oil has been gathered from hotels and food outlets.

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