Animal feed oil 'magically' transformed into human cooking oil: Ministry of Health warns people

(Chinhphu.vn) - In response to the information that some establishments were discovered using imported cooking oil for the purpose of making animal feed but "magically" turning it into cooking oil for humans, the Food Safety Department, Ministry of Health affirmed that this is a serious violation of food safety, potentially affecting health.

Using cooking oil intended for animal feed to produce cooking oil for human consumption poses a potential risk to public health.

The Food Safety Department said that according to Article 39 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP of the Government, vegetable oil belongs to the group of products under the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for state management of food safety, including the entire chain of production, processing, trading and circulation on the market.

However, from a professional perspective, the Food Safety Department warns people that using imported cooking oil for animal feed to produce cooking oil for human food will potentially pose a risk to public health.

To prevent risks and ensure consumer safety, the Food Safety Department recommends that food production and trading establishments, especially collective kitchens and ready-to-eat meal suppliers, need to request suppliers to clarify the product's declaration and raw material records, not just rely on packaging and labels.

At the same time, do not use ingredients that are not used for the declared purpose in food processing, even if there are sufficient invoices and documents. When detecting suspicion, please promptly inform the authorities for handling according to regulations.

The Food Safety Department also noted that compliance with the intended use of food ingredients is not only a technical requirement, but also a mandatory legal responsibility.

The agency also emphasized that any intentional use of ingredients other than those registered for food processing, especially in cases where the ingredients are not safe for consumers, will be considered and strictly handled by the authorities in accordance with the provisions of law.

Previously, on the evening of June 24, Vietnam Television reported that the OFOOD cooking oil brand of Nhat Minh Food Production and Import-Export Company Limited was discovered to have sold tens of thousands of tons of cooking oil to the market under the name of cooking oil for humans, but in fact it was vegetable oil used to produce animal feed, which did not meet food safety standards when used to prepare food for humans.

The masterminds used underground pipes to pump oil from a tank containing animal feed to a tank containing human oil. They then declared the product as cooking oil with added vitamin A, but the test results of the authorities did not contain this ingredient.

Hien Minh

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/dau-an-chan-nuoi-phu-phep-thanh-dau-an-cho-nguoi-bo-y-te-khuyen-cao-nguoi-dan-102250625121635312.htm