NHRC issues notice to FSSAI over reuse of cooking oil

🚨 Safety Alert: NHRC Flags Re-use of Cooking Oil as a Public-Health & Human-Rights Concern

The NHRC has taken notice of a serious food-safety issue in India — the widespread reuse of cooking oil by eateries, roadside vendors and food-business operators. According to recent reports, this is not just a regulatory lapse, but an issue that touches human health and rights. 

In response to a complaint filed by an NGO from Bhopal, the NHRC has asked the FSSAI and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for a state-wise action-taken report within two weeks. 

🚨 Safety Alert: NHRC Flags Re-use of Cooking Oil as a Public-Health & Human-Rights Concern

The NHRC has taken notice of a serious food-safety issue in India — the widespread reuse of cooking oil by eateries, roadside vendors and food-business operators. According to recent reports, this is not just a regulatory lapse, but an issue that touches human health and rights. 

In response to a complaint filed by an NGO from Bhopal, the NHRC has asked the FSSAI and the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for a state-wise action-taken report within two weeks. 

🔍 What’s the issue?

Food-businesses are re-using cooking oil multiple times, especially in street-food stalls, small kitchens, unorganised vendors. 

Under the regulatory framework (the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, as amended), cooking oil becomes unfit for consumption when its “total polar compounds” (TPC) exceed 25 % — a measure of oil degradation. 

Re-using badly degraded oil raises serious risks: higher trans fats, harmful oxidation products, increased risk of diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, liver disorders, even cancer. 

There’s also an environmental dimension: when used oil is disposed of improperly (into drains, soil) or resold, it contaminates water/soil and may re-enter food chains. 

🤔 Why is this framed as a human rights issue?

Because access to safe, uncontaminated food is a fundamental public-health necessity. When regulatory oversight fails and businesses compromise on basic hygiene or safety, it affects the rights of consumers — especially vulnerable groups

📌 Implications for the Food / Beverage Sector & Professionals

For you — with experience in food processing, beverages, and quality assurance — this is an important watch-area:

Process & Labelling Compliance: Ensure that your operations know the limits (e.g., TPC thresholds) and have monitoring protocols for oil usage, disposal, reuse.

Vendor & Supply-Chain Controls: If your business sources from smaller kitchens, vendors, or uses outsourced services (e.g., fried-snack units), you may want to audit compliance of those partners.

Risk Mitigation: Re-using oil may seem cost-efficient, but the public-health risk, regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage can far outweigh short-term savings.

Regulatory Readiness: With NHRC involvement, enforcement may become more stringent — documentation, state-wise data, traceability of used oil for biodiesel (via the RUCO – Repurpose Used Cooking Oil initiative) could become more critical. 

Sustainability & Circular-Economy Angle: The reuse of cooking oil isn’t only a safety issue; it touches sustainability (used oil → biodiesel) and supply-chain ethics. Being proactive in such areas adds value beyond compliance.

✅ What you can do / call to action

Audit your operations: How many times is cooking oil reused? Do you have protocols for filtration, reuse-limits, checks on colour/foaming/smoke?

Engage with vendors: If you partner with smaller kitchens or snack vendors, provide training or require documentation of oil-use practices.

Promote awareness: Internally (within your team) and externally (e.g., vendor partners) about the health risks of degraded oil and best-practice disposal.

Collaborate on disposal: Consider whether you can link with authorised used-oil collection agencies (as per RUCO) so that once oil crosses safe use-limits it exits the food‐chain responsibly.

Monitor regulatory updates: With NHRC involvement, expect possible tougher regulation, audits and reporting. Stay ahead.

📝 Closing Thought

The NHRC’s notice to the FSSAI is more than a headline. It underscores that food safety isn’t just about “does it taste good?” — it’s about does it protect health, honour rights and maintain trust. As someone in the food-technology / processing field, we have a duty to ensure our systems not only comply but lead in creating safe, sustainable, ethical food value chains.