The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday that it has been able to track only half of the waste cooking oil that was produced in the nation in the past two years.
Amid a food scare over recycled oil, EPA Deputy Minister Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬) said the agency’s 2007 inventory, conducted in line with the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ biodiesel policy, found that between 70,000 tonnes and 80,000 tonnes of waste cooking oil is produced annually in the nation.
More recently, it said, the volume was about 28,000 tonnes last year and roughly 24,000 tonnes in the first eight months of this year. This amount, added to the 10,000 tonnes that were exported, means only half the total has been accounted for, Chang said.
He said that according to the existing regulations, waste cooking oil businesses that have a certain level of capital and revenue are required to file an online report on the flow of their products.
It is estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes of waste cooking oil is produced by vendors and small shops that do not fall under that regulation, he added.
Chang said he hopes to obtain information within a week about the flow of waste cooking oil from night markets.
Meanwhile, Minister of Economic Affairs Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said that the recent food safety issue of lard-based cooking oil being adulterated with recycled oil has caused “incalculable” damage to the reputation of the nation’s food industry. In addition, the industry has suffered estimated losses of NT$5 billion (US$166 million) in revenue as a result of the food scare, he said.
However, Hsu Chih-chiang (徐之強), a professor at National Central University, said the food scare will have limited effects on the economy because the lard industry accounts for only a fraction of the nation’s GDP.
The impact on the upstream and downstream supply chain will also be minimal, he added.
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