The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is planning new ways to manage the treatment of waste cooking oil. That’s in response to public outrage over a local company that recycled waste oil for use as cooking oil in restaurants and other food companies.
Currently, only large restaurants and food chains are required to report on their waste oil. But every year, small food vendors produce about 30,000 tons of waste oil that is unaccounted for. EPA officials met on Friday to discuss how this oil can be closely managed and accounted for.
EPA official Lai Yin-yin said that waste oil from households and other non-commercial sources should be collected and treated as recycled waste. Lai also said that the EPA would list companies the government has approved to deal with waste oil. Restaurants and small eateries must give their waste oil to these firms.
“We want the waste oil from restaurants, eateries, sidewalk vendors and night markets to be given to legitimate companies to recycle," Lai. "As for waste oil from households, this can be given to trash men.”
The government currently has a list of 997 firms that are legitimate waste oil recyclers.
Health minister Chiu Wen-ta also said on Friday that the government is planning to have stricter penalties for those who break food safety laws. That means longer jail sentences and heavier fines. Chiu explained that this would entail amending some laws so that companies cannot get out of the heavier penalties through current loopholes.
At the legislature on Friday, Premier Jiang Yi-huah said that he wants officials to come up with the legal amendments and more effective measures needed to manage food safety next week.