Dewan Negara told govt looking into ways to prevent abuse of subsidised cooking oil for profit
31/03/2022 (New Straits Times) - The government is looking into ways to prevent irresponsible quarters from abusing subsidised cooking oil for easy profit.
Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Rosol Wahid said there were claims of irresponsible quarters who were mixing used cooking oil and subsidised cooking oil and selling this in the biodiesel market.
Used cooking oil sold for biodiesel market is priced at RM4 per kg, which is higher than the price of subsidised cooking oil.
"It is said that there are quarters who mixed the used cooking oil with the subsidised cooking oil to be sold for the biodiesel market at a higher price.
"However, matters and issues related to used cooking oil is not under the jurisdiction of our ministry but the under the authority of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)," he told the Dewan Negara today.
To another question by Senator Datuk Dr Ahmad Azam Hamzah on the measures carried out by the ministry to ensure that used cooking oil was not being "recycled" and sold again as cooking oil in the market, Rosol said the ministry would take immediate action if they received reports over the matter.
"There was a case in Penang where there were claims that the subsidised cooking oil sold has been mixed with used cooking oil.
"We took the necessary action by taking the sample of the said cooking oil and sent it for a test at the MPOB's laboratory.
"The tests found no elements of used cooking oil mixed in with the subsidised cooking oil.
"This means that as of today, there is no case of irresponsible quarters mixing recycling used cooking oil and reselling it in the market," he said.