Hoteliers unsure about buying trans fat detection devices due to high cost

BENGALURU: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has launched a crackdown on hotels and bakeries to ensure they follow proper cooking oil usage practices.

As part of this initiative, hotels and bakeries have been instructed to stop reusing cooking oil and to use a device to measure the fat content in the oil. The device, which costs around Rs 50,000, will help determine the quality of the cooking oil. However, hotel owners are hesitant to purchase the device due to its high cost.

Hotel owners have requested the food department to discuss this matter and explore options for purchasing the device at a lower price. They have also appealed to the government to consider their concerns.

Despite the challenges, hotel owners acknowledge that following the department’s instructions is essential for ensuring public health.

The department’s initiative aims to ensure that hotels and bakeries provide high quality food to customers. However, the success of this initiative depends on effective implementation and monitoring by the authorities.

Virendra Kamat, secretary of the Hoteliers’ Association, said, “Complying with FSSAI rules is every hotelier’s responsibility. Hotels should not be reusing cooking oil. A device that is used for checking the quality of cooking oil and detect fat content costs about Rs 40,000 at the market. We will have to find alternatives and will make a decision. A company called RUKO is empanelled to collect used cooking oil, but it is difficult to find out where it goes to. Instead of that, there are 4-5 other agencies who are authorized companies, they will come to collect oil for a certain amount of money. The used cooking oil will sent to produce biodiesel”.