Trade Consultation Forum forLegislative Proposals on

Regulation of Edible Fats and Oils andRecycling of “Waste Cooking Oils”

29 July 2015

Import and Export of Edible Fats and Oils

There is no specific legislation to regulate theimport and export of edible fats and oils.

The legislation regulating food safety in generalis also applicable to edible fats and oils forhuman consumption.

Edible fats and oils for export are only requiredto meet the statutory requirements of theauthorities of the export destinations.

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Situation in Hong Kong

Importers of edible fats and oils are required toprovide an official certificate or a certificate issued byan officially recognised independent testinginstitution certifying that:

“Waste cooking oils” or “substandard fats andoils” not intended for human consumption shouldnot be used as ingredients for the production ofedible fats and oils; and

Edible fats and oils should meet the proposedstatutory standards and be fit for humanconsumption.

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Legislative Proposals

The requirement of provision of certificate is alsoapplicable to edible fats and oils manufacturedin Hong Kong for export.

Importers of edible fats and oils are required toprovide copies of certificates or other supportingdocuments to their downstream distributors,retailers or food premises.

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Legislative Proposals

Legislative Proposals on Strengthening Regulation of

Recycling of“Waste Cooking Oils”

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Regulation on “Waste Cooking Oils” produced in Food Premises

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In the course of cooking and food preparation, “wastecooking oils”, such as used cooking oil, cooking oil whichhas passed its expiry date and grease trap waste, aregenerated by restaurants and food factories

“Waste cooking oils”, if properly recycled, can beconverted into commodities like biofuel and soap. Thishelps not just to protect our environment but also preventthem from being re-used for human consumption or as rawmaterials for food production

“Waste Cooking Oils”(WCO)

Cooking oils abandoned from any cooking process,regardless whether they have been used for itsoriginal purpose

Including used cooking oil, cooking oil which haspassed its expiry date and grease trap waste

Other than those from household

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Amendments to the Waste Disposal Ordinance (Cap.354)

Introduction of licences for the collection, disposal andimport/export of WCO

Any person, except for holders of a WCO export licencewho exports WCO out of Hong Kong in accordance withlicence conditions, who allows or causes WCO to be sold,transported, collected or transferred to a party without alicence granted under the Waste Disposal Ordinancecommits an offence and is liable to a fine/imprisonment

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Collection of “Waste Cooking Oils”

WCO collectors must hold a collection licence issued under theWaste Disposal Ordinance

Collection of WCO without a licence are liable to afine/imprisonment

WCO will only be sold or handed over to anothercollector/disposer/exporter who holds a licence issued underthe Waste Disposal Ordinance

Keep all transaction and storage records of WCO

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Disposal of “Waste Cooking Oils”

WCO disposers must hold a WCO disposal licence issued underthe Waste Disposal Ordinance

Operations without a licence are liable to a fine/imprisonment

All disposal facilities in operation must comply with theapplicable permit/licence requirements

WCO can only be recycled for legitimate industrial re-use

Keep all transaction, storage and disposal records of WCO

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Import/Export of “Waste Cooking Oils” Importers/exporters of WCO must obtain a WCO

import/export licence issued under the Waste DisposalOrdinance

They are also required to obtain a permit issued under theWaste Disposal Ordinance for all shipments of wasteimport/export

Those who import/export WCO without a licence/permit areliable to a fine/imprisonment

Keep all transaction, storage and import/export records ofWCO

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Administrative Measures (prior to amendment of Waste Disposal Ordinance)

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Restaurant and Food Factory Licence The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD)

proposes that an additional licensing condition be imposedon the food premises operating under a licence for arestaurant, factory canteen, bakery or food factory

Any WCO produced during the cooking process on thelicensed premises must be handed over to a collector,disposer or exporter, who is registered by the EnvironmentalProtection Department (EPD) and the relevant transactionrecords must be kept properly

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Voluntary Registration

EPD will accept registration application of WCO collector,disposer and exporter, the registration is voluntary and free ofcharge

EPD will develop a “Good Practice Guide” to facilitate tradeoperations

Operations of registered parties should comply with the “GoodPractice Guide”, otherwise their registrations may be revoked

Lists of collector, disposer and exporter will be uploaded toEPD’s website

A registration certificate will be issued by EPD to eachregistered party

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Registration Timeline

Time Action

Sept 2015 Announce the registration details and application

requirements on EPD’s website

Oct 2015 Accept and process 1st batch of registration

application (1st Oct- 31th Oct)

Early Dec 2015 Complete the 1st batch registration application

Announce the 1st batch application result on EPD’s

website and inform individual applicants by post

Results of applications submitted in Nov 2015 will be announced in early Jan

2016, and so on11

To briefly introduce the proposed amendments to the standards for edible fats and oils under the legislative proposals on regulation of edible fats and oils and recycling of “waste cooking oils”

Make reference to Codex -◦ food which is in a state for human consumption and

is composed of glycerides of fatty acids derived from any plant or animal or bird or fish. They may contain small amounts of other lipids such as phosphatides, of unsaponifiable constituents and of free fatty acids naturally present in the fat or oil. Fats and oils that have been subjected to processes of modification (such as trans-esterification or hydrogenation) or fractionation are included.

Under the Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap. 132), “animal” includes reptiles, but does not include birds or fish.

Propose to amend/set statutory standards for edible fats and oils by making reference to international/national standards and taking local situation into account Metallic Contaminants

- Arsenic (human carcinogen) and lead Erucic Acid: (excessive intake might damage the heart

tissues of experimental animals) Aflatoxins (human carcinogens; can be nearly completely

removed during oil refinement) B[a]P (human carcinogen; oils with B[a]P usually occurs

during technological processes like direct fire drying, where combustion products may come into contact with the food)

Proposed amendmentsDescription of food Maximum level

Arsenic Edible fats and oils 0.1mg total arsenic/kgLead Edible fats and oils 0.1mg/kg

Erucic acid

Low-erucic acid rapeseed oil or any food to which low-erucic acid

rapeseed oil but no other edible fats and oils has been added

2 per centum by weight of their fatty

acid contentAny food to which edible fats and oils or a mixture thereof has been

added except any food to which low-erucic acid rapeseed oil but no other edible fats and oils has been added

5 per centum by weight of their fatty

acid content

Any edible fats and oils or any mixture thereof except low-erucic

acid rapeseed oil

5 per centum by weight of their fatty

acid content

Aflatoxins Edible fats and oils5 micrograms

aflatoxins, total (B1+B2+G1+G2) per kilogram of the food

Benzo[a]pyrene Edible fats and oils 5 micrograms per kilogram of the food

Propose to set statutory standards for peroxide value and acid value in lard to enhance the quality of relevant products in the market◦ Not intend to introduce too many statutory

standards to regulate the quality of edible fats and oils posing a risk to the public health incurring excessive extra costs for the trade creating unnecessary trade barriers

Proposed amendments

Description of food Maximum level

Acid value Lard 1.3 mg KOH/g fat = ffa max 0.65%

Peroxide value Lard Up to 10 meq active

oxygen/ kg fat

Expert Committee on Food Safety consulted in December 2014 ◦ in support of the direction of the proposed

standards

~END~

Regulation of waste cooking oils from food premises

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Through administrative measures to regulate the recycling of waste cooking oils to ensure that such oils upon disposal should not be used as ingredients for edible oils.

Firstly, EPD will register local collectors, disposers and exporters of waste cooking oils.

FEHD will impose additional licensing conditions to require all restaurants, factory canteens, food factories and bakeries to hand over their waste cooking oils to a collector, disposer or exporter registered by EPD for disposal and keep proper records.

FEHD will issue warning to any licence holders found to be in breach of the relevant licensing conditions. For repeated breaches, FEHD will consider cancelling their licences.