LAHORE: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has commenced a door-to-door awareness campaign to discourage multiple frying of used cooking oil at the domestic level.

PFA Director General Raja Jahangir Anwar inaugurated the awareness campaign from GOR-2 on Wednesday. He said the purpose of the campaign was to brief citizens about the effects of substandard, low quality and used cooking oil on human health.

He said two teams consisting of 20 nutritionists will give door-to-door awareness to citizens about the proportional use of cooking oil and ghee. He said that PFA’s teams have delivered its message to 186 houses in a day whereas the PFA will cover 4,430 houses in all GORs in the next 25 days.

He disclosed that worldwide per capita consumption of cooking oil is 3.5kg per year whereas Pakistan consume 24kg per capita in a year that alarming situation for Pakistan.

According to the survey, 30 per cent of deaths in Pakistan are due to heart diseases, he said, adding that trans-fatty acids in used ghee or oil increase oxidation and rancidity. Moreover, excessive consumption of cooking oil and ghee leads to diseases like obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer, he added.

Raja Jahangir further said that already used ghee will be used in biodiesel to prevent recurring/reentry in the food industry. He said that approved companies will collect the used oil from the consumer's home with just one call.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023