The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on 6 May, 2019 issued a notice, notifying the guidelines for the collection of Used Cooking Oil (UCO) by Biodiesel Manufacturers from Food Business Operators through their authorized collection agencies. Earlier this year FSSAI had directed the FBO’s consuming more than 50 Liters of edible oil per day to maintain usage records and disposed off the UCO only to authorised agencies. The implementation of these directions were deferred to 01st June 2019.
Keeping this in mind, FSSAI constituted an expert committee on whose recommendation a guideline for collection of UCO by Biodiesel Manufacturers has been framed and released by FSSAI.
Highlights of the guidelines issued by FSSAI are given below:
- The Biodiesel Manufacturers manufacturers using UCO as feedstock to manufacture biodiesel and registered with the State or UT as per “Guidelines for sale of Biodiesel for blending with high speed diesel for transportation purposes – 2019” issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, would be deemed to have enrolled under RUCO initiative and approved to collect UCO from FBOs.
- The Biodiesel Manufacturers may enroll themselves with FSSAI for collection of UCO from FBOs by submitting the following documents:
- License issued by Department of Industries and Commerce/District Industry Centre (DIC).
- Annual return for previous financial year
- An affidavit stating that the company is using UCO to manufacture Biodiesel.
- The provisional enrolment will be valid till the mechanism of registration of Biodiesel Manufacturers is devised at State/UTs level by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Later the role of Biodiesel Manufacturers will be as under:
- The Biodiesel Manufacturers would sanction the collection agencies/aggregators for collection of UCO and it will be their responsibility to ensure that the UCO collected by such agencies is used for manufacture of biodiesel only and does not go back into food value chain.
- The biodiesel manufacturers would also be required to furnish the collection agencies/aggregators with a certificate authorizing them to collect the UCO with a copy to state FDA and FSSAI.
- A directory of such agencies will be maintained by FSSAI and will be available on FSSAI web site.
- The collection agencies have the freedom to be enrolled with more than one Biodiesel Manufacturers. They will be required to carry a copy of the enrolment letter issued by FSSAI to Biodiesel Manufacturer and a copy of certificate issued by the Biodiesel Manufacturer authorizing them to collect UCO and would be obligated to present the same to the FBO while collecting used cooking oil.
Click here to read the notification
