Jelantah, used cooking oil or waste cooking oil, is traded among home-based businesses in the cottage food industry as raw material with minimal supervision in the business ecosystem.
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JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Jelantah, used cooking oil or waste cooking oil, is traded among home-based businesses in the cottage food industry as raw material with minimal supervision in the business ecosystem. The condition poses a risk to consumer health.
A Kompas investigation from 18 Feb. to 13 March 2020 uncovered the practice of trading in waste cooking oil at a number of home-based businesses in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok and Tangerang, which have been engaging in the practice for years. The businesses sell their products for daily consumption.
At least five home-based businesses in this densely populated area produce fried shallots for sale.
One of these home-based businesses, known for producing fried garlic and fried shallots in Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta, uses jelantah in place of fresh cooking oil to fry its shallots. At least five home-based businesses in this densely populated area produce fried shallots for sale.
Paryono, who runs one of these businesses, uses 20 jerricans containing about 18 liters each of jelantah to fry 2.5 tons of shallots a day. Meanwhile, Poniyem, 54, another owner of a fried shallot business, uses 10 jerricans of jelantah per day to save around Rp 1 million in production costs to fry 1 ton of sliced shallots, compared to using fresh cooking oil.
Paryono and Poniyem both purchased the waste cooking oil for Rp 120,000 to Rp 150,000 per jerrican, cheaper than buying low-grade cooking oil for Rp 180,000 per jerrican.
"Whatever cooking oil you use for frying, whether it is used cooking oil, low-quality cooking oil or branded cooking oil, there is no effect on the fried shallots," said Paryono.
They bought their supply of jelantah from a local resident, Furqon, 60. During a visit to his house, Furqon said that he purchased the used cooking oil from a collector in Tangerang, Banten. "The collector sells it for Rp 7,000 per liter, I sell it at Rp 8,000 per liter," he said.
A similar pracitice was also being used at a home-based business producing beef crackling chips on Jl. Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, the SKW tofu producer at Pos Pengumben, West Jakarta, and a fried tofu producer in Cibadak village of Ciampea district, Bogor regency, West Java.
"We get it [the used cooking oil] delivered. We don\'t look for it ourselves," said US, 38, the factory supervisor at the Cibadak fried tofu producer in Bogor.
Executive director Sahat Sinaga of the Indonesian Vegetable Oil Refiners Association (GIMNI) said that a study found that around 20 percent of the cooking oil people used across the country was jelantah. The study also found that around 896.55 million liters of jelantah was used in 2019, at a value of Rp 2.68 trillion to Rp 4.48 trillion, based on the average price of Rp 3,000 to Rp 5,000 per liter of jelantah.
When the economy started being affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, the use of jelantah grew.
For food producers, jelantah is not difficult to obtain because suppliers usually come in person to offer the waste cooking oil. Bayu, 21, a pecel lele (fried catfish) vendor in Blok M, South Jakarta, said he was once offered jelantah. "It was cheap, Rp 25,000 for two large bags [around 4 liters]," he said.
When the economy started being affected by the Covid-19 outbreak, the use of jelantah grew.
"The owners of home-based businesses are under increasingly straitened circumstances. So, they will find a way to survive," said Jakarta chairman Sarman Simanjorang of the Indigenous Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association (HIPPI).
Meanwhile, fast food restaurant outlets regulate their waste cooking oil through a centralized management system. Fast food chains work with third parties that are licensed by the government to ensure that waste cooking oil is not used to produce food for humans, animals or plants, and is instead processed into biodiesel.
Fast food companies that violate the agreement on waste cooking oil management will have their business permits revoked.
According to McDonald \'s communications associate director Sutji Lantyka, the system is enforced under a legal agreement. Fast food companies that violate the agreement on waste cooking oil management will have their business permits revoked.
Processed food supervision deputy Reri Indriani of the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) stressed that jelantah was not a food product, and that its distribution needed to be monitored, especially in its use for producing foods intended for human consumption.
The GIMNI study states that cooking oil will break down when heated at high temperatures to produce a carcinogenic substance that could also cause cholesterol to be deposited in the bloodstream. (NIA/BKY/IRE)