India’s struggle with used cooking oil reveals a pressing need to align food safety, public health, and biofuel policy through science-backed enforcement and public awareness.
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Used cooking oil (UCO) continues to remain a blind spot for Indian food safety and environmental laws, even though it is a scientifically well-documented risk. It is well-established that the repeated use of cooking oil, along with the misuse and unsafe disposal of UCO, pose significant environmental and health risks. As the world observes Food Safety Day 2025 under the theme “Food Safety: Science in Action”, it is important that Indian states reflect on this everyday risk that continues to undermine public health, despite the availability of clear scientific evidence and regulatory frameworks. There is an urgent need to ramp up monitoring capacity across the board, just as in the case of pharmaceuticals, because the associated human costs are enormous.
A 2022 study by the Observer Research Foundation found that nearly 60 percent of UCO generated in Indian cities finds its way back into the food stream. This happens either through direct reuse in commercial establishments or resale to informal, unauthorised traders. Despite clear evidence linking repeated oil reuse to a range of non-communicable diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and even neurodegenerative conditions, large gaps remain in regulation, enforcement, and public awareness.
The original Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) guidelines on UCO in 2018 prohibited the topping-up of used cooking oil having Total Polar Compounds (TPC) of more than 25 percent.
The original Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) guidelines on UCO in 2018 prohibited the topping-up of used cooking oil having Total Polar Compounds (TPC) of more than 25 percent. In January 2022, FSSAI removed this provision through a new order, citing issues related to the availability of testing protocols and enforcement. In a positive development, this controversial order was withdrawn in August 2024, following strong opposition from various stakeholders.
Food inspections in Indian cities regularly find that a substantial proportion of the sampled food items and ingredients, including cooking oil, fail basic safety and quality tests. In the latest case, one sample labelled “refined oil” was found to be adulterated with unpermitted levels of palm oil. These findings echo patterns long identified in our earlier work: economic pressures and lax oversight continue to render unsafe practices such as topping up degraded oil with fresh stock an attractive, if illegal, option for many food business operators (FBOs).
FSSAI guidelines apply only to FBOs that consume over 50 litres of oil a day. In a largely unorganised ecosystem, this exemption leaves out a vast majority of India’s smaller eateries and street vendors, which serve millions of citizens daily and are far more likely to reuse oil till the “last drop”.
In 2018, the FSSAI issued detailed guidelines under the Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO) initiative to address the growing problem of UCO. These included mandatory disposal of UCO once their TPC content exceeds 25 percent, which is a widely accepted global threshold. However, the FSSAI guidelines apply only to FBOs that consume over 50 litres of oil a day. In a largely unorganised ecosystem, this exemption leaves out a vast majority of India’s smaller eateries and street vendors, which serve millions of citizens daily and are far more likely to reuse oil till the “last drop”. The FSSAI’s “Eat Right India” movement has aligned with the RUCO initiative and tries to raise awareness among the public. Figure 1 summarises the timeline of regulatory changes to FSSAI’s UCO guidelines between 2018 and 2024 as discussed here, highlighting key shifts in policy on TPC thresholds.
Figure 1: FSSAI Policy Changes on UCO Regulations since 2018
With states such as Kerala imposing fines of up to INR 1 lakh on offending FBOs, government action against non-compliance has seen improvement in the last few years. However, routine monitoring remains a challenge. Across most Indian cities, RUCO implementation faces binding constraints such as underreporting, limited infrastructure for UCO collection, and inadequate economic incentives for proper disposal. However, cities such as Chennai have demonstrated better municipal coordination and awareness-building, leading to more effective implementation.
Major scientific advances offer potential pathways to upend the status quo. In recent years, researchers have developed increasingly sophisticated methods to detect oil adulteration. A 2024 review published in the journal Nature highlighted promising innovations, including portable ‘electronic noses’ and ‘tongues’, which are highly versatile devices capable of identifying reused or adulterated oils in field conditions. Adopted at scale, such tools could radically shift the balance in favour of enforcement and consumer safety. In India, the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) incorporated sophisticated e-nose and e-tongue technologies into its laboratory in the year 2022. While currently concentrated in such research settings, the scalability of these devices across India hinges on three factors: i) reducing costs through local production, ii) integration with state food safety labs, and iii) deployment through mobile testing teams. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) could also play a crucial role here: startups could collaborate with regulatory bodies to develop such devices for use in the field in the first place. Through government support via innovation grants or the FSSAI’s Eat Right India campaign, these tools can be transitioned from lab to street, offering real-time, affordable testing for enforcement teams across urban and semi-urban clusters.
India generates nearly 3 million tonnes of UCO annually, thus presenting a significant opportunity to meet its biodiesel blending targets under the National Policy on Biofuels.
Along with leveraging technological advancements, the circular economy approach to UCO management promoted by the FSSAI must be reemphasised across the food and allied sectors. India generates nearly 3 million tonnes of UCO annually, thus presenting a significant opportunity to meet its biodiesel blending targets under the National Policy on Biofuels. Yet, biodiesel from UCO accounts for only a small fraction of India’s fuel mix, largely due to inadequate supply chain development and competition from informal, unauthorised buyers offering better rates to FBOs.
The consequences of this challenge extend beyond public health. Improper disposal of UCO, which is often poured into drains, causes sewer blockages and pollutes water bodies. Meanwhile, the biodiesel industry, which could help mitigate India’s fossil fuel dependence and generate green jobs, is starved of feedstock. Producers have repeatedly warned that they are shutting down due to UCO shortages: an ironic outcome in a country awash in used oil.
A three-pronged approach is necessary to address this multi-dimensional challenge. First, regulations need to be expanded to cover all FBOs, irrespective of usage thresholds. Pilot programmes should be launched to study the feasibility of incentivising small eateries for compliant disposal, exploring subsidised collection or micro-credit linkages with certified UCO aggregators. Second, enforcement authorities need to be empowered, decentralised and given access to cutting-edge technology. States and municipalities must be equipped with modern testing kits and real-time monitoring platforms to track UCO flows, building on the FSSAI’s existing but underused ecosystem of RUCO-registered collectors and biodiesel producers.
Third, and most critically, public awareness must become the focal point of the national effort. Food safety campaigns in India have traditionally focused on pesticide residues or milk adulteration. It is time to bring UCO misuse into the mainstream public discourse, with clear, relatable messages on how reused oil silently damages health, and what both consumers and eateries can do about it. The existing Eat Right India campaign platform can be leveraged to bridge the gap between evidence and action.
This year’s Food Safety Day theme—“Science in Action”—acknowledges existing research but also emphasises the need to translate knowledge into enforceable, equitable, and scalable solutions. The journey of cooking oil—from farm to frying pan to fuel tank—must be made safer, cleaner, and more circular. For this, India needs a stronger blend of regulation, innovation, and collective responsibility.
Oommen C. Kurian is a Senior Fellow and Head of the Health Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation.
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Oommen C. Kurian is Senior Fellow and Head of the Health Initiative at the Inclusive Growth and SDGs Programme, Observer Research Foundation. Trained in economics and ...
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