15/12/2011 (The Star) - Consumers are wedged between their wallet and health concerns when it comes to buying cheap cooking oil, said the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca).

“The escalating costs of living are forcing consumers to opt for less-healthy food options as long as it falls within their budget,” its chief executive officer Datuk Paul Selvaraj said.

He was responding to The Star report which stated that 19 brands of cooking oil sold nationwide in 1kg packets were found to be unfit for consumption due to repeated exposure to high temperatures.

The Malaysian Association of Standards Users, which pursued the study of the commodity with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), believed that the repackaged oil was meant to be recycled into biodiesel for use in diesel engines.

Manufacturers are believed to have bought the oil used in restaurants through middlemen and processed this for re-sale.

“The effect of used oil recycled for sale as new will have far-reaching effects on all levels of consumers.

“Even if middle-class consumers are able to buy more expensive brands of cooking oil, they may still be exposed to used oil when eating out at restaurants which may prefer buying used oil as it is cheaper,” Selvaraj said.

He also demanded that the Health Ministry enforce strict guidelines to regulate food safety to assure consumers.

“We need the ministry to play a strong and proactive role in this matter.

“While some cooking oil manufacturers should be blamed for being unethical, the ministry should take responsibility as the food regulatory body,” he said.

The National Poison Centre had warned that cooking oil used repeatedly could cause hypertension, affect the liver and might, in the long run, lead to cancer.

The 19 brands, which were tested by UKM's food quality research and development organisation Unipeq Sdn Bhd, were found to have fallen short of international standards and those set by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

Although the European Union caps its polar compound level at 25% for cooking oil, the samples tested showed levels of between 28.4% and 70.8%.

The Health Ministry's Food Safety and Quality Division confirmed that it had received the report and said it w as looking into the quality of the oil tested.

The Malaysian Food Act 1983, however, has yet to include a standard to test polar compounds in cooking oil.