MoH tracking re-cycled cooking oils

THE SAN MIGUELITO office or the Ministry of Health (MoH is investigating a new risk to public health – the resale and re use  of vegetable cooking oils in San Miguelito.

According to the MoH, reused cooking oil results in stomach problems, obesity, even cancer.

Omar Estribí, head of Environmental Sanitation Health for San Miguelito said it investigating several cases of people who are engaging in the activity of collecting used oil from chain restaurants or fast food outlets  without permits.

This type of activity is illegal, according to a  2013 law , which sets standards for health surveillance and the reuse of  vegetable oil in any establishment of sanitary

Used vegetable oil can only be used in the manufacture or processing of biodiesel, industrial soaps or other non-food industrial use, said Estribí.

He added that the owners of hotels  and restaurants are obliged to keep records of the amount of vegetable oil they purchase, and the  amount discarded and name of the company that collects the waste, which must have a sanitary operating permit.

For owners who fail to discard protocol as people who engage in illegal oil recycling, fines range from $10 to $500 if  enforced by local authorities, $501 to $5000 by the regional authority and from $5,001to $100,000 by the MoH Directorate General of Health..

Currently in San Miguelito 9% of the 350 locals dedicated to selling food have been fined.

There is no record of legal companies engaged in the collection of used oil.

In Panama center, there are three recycling companies, two of which recycle oil

Carlos Abadia, doctor and owner of one of the companies that recycle vegetable oil, said  that the use of  recycled oil is a health hazard, because when heated it undergoes a transformation very toxic chemical called dioxin, a first degree, carcinogenic substance, which absorbs animal fat.

In  2001, the European Parliament regulated recycled cooking oils due to health risks such as undesirable concentrations of pollutants, especially dioxins and related substances.