An operation carried out by the Health Ministry has failed to find any evidence that used or recycled cooking oil is allegedly sold in the market, said its minister, Liow Tiong Lai.

He said tests carried out on 40 samples of cooking oil in seven states - Negri Sembilan, Malacca, Kedah, Sabah, Terengganu, Selangor and Sarawak - showed that they were not recycled as alleged.

“Instead, the cooking oil was genuine palm oil and not adulterated. They met the quality and standards set. It is an offence under the Food Act 1983 to sell used or recycled cooking oil.

“If the public come across used or recycled cooking oil in the market, they should notify the ministry immediately,” he told reporters after holding a dialogue with food manufacturers in Putrajaya today.

He urged non-governmental organisations to refrain from publishing their findings or taking their own action if they were to discover used or recycled cooking oil being sold in the market.

On Wednesday, the Malaysian Association of Standards Users claimed that tests conducted on 19 brands of the ‘cheap’ oil sold in the market revealed that repeated exposure to high temperatures had made it unfit for human consumption.

Its chief executive officer, Ratna Devi, said samples sent for ‘polar compound testing’ to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia found that all the 19 brands fell short of international standards while 13 others were adulterated.

Meanwhile, Liow said 35 food manufacturers that attended the dialogue were committed in producing healthy food and beverages, including cutting down on sugar, salt and saturated fat content besides providing proper labelling.

He said the ministry would also issue a guideline on food advertising and marketing that must be adhered to by food manufacturers.

“We have agreed to work together to ensure that food items contained less sugar, salt and fat in efforts to check the worrying trends of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) due to unhealthy lifestyle and eating habit.

He said according to the World Health Organisation, 36 million out of 57 million deaths worldwide were due to NCDs such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and several types of cancer.

Liow said the risk factor of obese and overweight adults getting NCDs rose to 15.1 percent compared to 4.4 percent in 1996.

- Bernama