The document discusses proposed amendments to regulate edible fats and oils and recycling of waste cooking oils in Hong Kong. It proposes setting statutory standards for contaminants in edible oils and requiring certificates for imports. It also proposes amendments to the Waste Disposal Ordinance to license and regulate the collection, disposal, and import/export of waste cooking oils, and requiring food premises to hand over waste oils to licensed collectors/disposers.

1. Trade Consultation Forum for
Legislative Proposals on
Regulation of Edible Fats and Oils and
Recycling of “Waste Cooking Oils”
29 July 2015
Import and Export of Edible Fats and Oils

2.  There is no specific legislation to regulate the
import and export of edible fats and oils.
 The legislation regulating food safety in general
is also applicable to edible fats and oils for
human consumption.
 Edible fats and oils for export are only required
to meet the statutory requirements of the
authorities of the export destinations.
2
Situation in Hong Kong

3.  Importers of edible fats and oils are required to
provide an official certificate or a certificate issued by
an officially recognised independent testing
institution certifying that:
 “Waste cooking oils” or “substandard fats and
oils” not intended for human consumption should
not be used as ingredients for the production of
edible fats and oils; and
 Edible fats and oils should meet the proposed
statutory standards and be fit for human
consumption.
3
Legislative Proposals

4.  The requirement of provision of certificate is also
applicable to edible fats and oils manufactured
in Hong Kong for export.
 Importers of edible fats and oils are required to
provide copies of certificates or other supporting
documents to their downstream distributors,
retailers or food premises.
4
Legislative Proposals

5. Legislative Proposals on
Strengthening Regulation of
Recycling of
“Waste Cooking Oils”
1

6. Regulation on “Waste Cooking Oils”
produced in Food Premises
2
 In the course of cooking and food preparation, “waste
cooking oils”, such as used cooking oil, cooking oil which
has passed its expiry date and grease trap waste, are
generated by restaurants and food factories
 “Waste cooking oils”, if properly recycled, can be
converted into commodities like biofuel and soap. This
helps not just to protect our environment but also prevent
them from being re-used for human consumption or as raw
materials for food production

7. “Waste Cooking Oils”(WCO)
 Cooking oils abandoned from any cooking process,
regardless whether they have been used for its
original purpose
 Including used cooking oil, cooking oil which has
passed its expiry date and grease trap waste
 Other than those from household
3

8. Amendments to the Waste Disposal
Ordinance (Cap.354)
 Introduction of licences for the collection, disposal and
import/export of WCO
 Any person, except for holders of a WCO export licence
who exports WCO out of Hong Kong in accordance with
licence conditions, who allows or causes WCO to be sold,
transported, collected or transferred to a party without a
licence granted under the Waste Disposal Ordinance
commits an offence and is liable to a fine/imprisonment
4

9. Collection of “Waste Cooking Oils”
 WCO collectors must hold a collection licence issued under the
Waste Disposal Ordinance
 Collection of WCO without a licence are liable to a
fine/imprisonment
 WCO will only be sold or handed over to another
collector/disposer/exporter who holds a licence issued under
the Waste Disposal Ordinance
 Keep all transaction and storage records of WCO
5

10. Disposal of “Waste Cooking Oils”
 WCO disposers must hold a WCO disposal licence issued under
the Waste Disposal Ordinance
 Operations without a licence are liable to a fine/imprisonment
 All disposal facilities in operation must comply with the
applicable permit/licence requirements
 WCO can only be recycled for legitimate industrial re-use
 Keep all transaction, storage and disposal records of WCO
6

11. Import/Export of “Waste Cooking Oils”
 Importers/exporters of WCO must obtain a WCO
import/export licence issued under the Waste Disposal
Ordinance
 They are also required to obtain a permit issued under the
Waste Disposal Ordinance for all shipments of waste
import/export
 Those who import/export WCO without a licence/permit are
liable to a fine/imprisonment
 Keep all transaction, storage and import/export records of
WCO
7

12. Administrative Measures
(prior to amendment of Waste Disposal Ordinance)
8

13. Restaurant and Food Factory Licence
 The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD)
proposes that an additional licensing condition be imposed
on the food premises operating under a licence for a
restaurant, factory canteen, bakery or food factory
 Any WCO produced during the cooking process on the
licensed premises must be handed over to a collector,
disposer or exporter, who is registered by the Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) and the relevant transaction
records must be kept properly
9

14. Voluntary Registration
 EPD will accept registration application of WCO collector,
disposer and exporter, the registration is voluntary and free of
charge
 EPD will develop a “Good Practice Guide” to facilitate trade
operations
 Operations of registered parties should comply with the “Good
Practice Guide”, otherwise their registrations may be revoked
 Lists of collector, disposer and exporter will be uploaded to
EPD’s website
 A registration certificate will be issued by EPD to each
registered party
10

15. 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

17.  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”

18.  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.

19.  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)

20. Proposed amendments
Description of food Maximum level
Arsenic Edible fats and oils 0.1mg total arsenic/kg
Lead 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 content
Any 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 oils
5 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

21.  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

22. 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

23.  Expert Committee on Food Safety consulted
in December 2014
◦ in support of the direction of the proposed
standards

24. ~END~

25. Regulation of waste cooking oils from
food premises
1
 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.