Claiming to have limited capital, food businesses are turning to jelantah (used cooking oil) to cut on production costs while ignoring the health of consumers.
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Claiming to have limited capital, food businesses are turning to jelantah (used cooking oil) to cut on production costs while ignoring the health of consumers.
The home industry producing tahu pong (spongy tofu) is located on a dead end road in Cibadak village, Ciampea district, Bogor regency, West Java. The production area has minimal lighting with a dirt floor, which is partially muddy.
On Monday (2/3/2020) afternoon, one of the workers, A, 26-year-old, was frying tofu. The petit young man works from 3 a.m. to finish frying the tofu at the earliest at 7 p.m. "I was racing against time," said A, who received a wage of Rp 75,000 (US$5) per day.
He was worried because in the last few months the factory owned by his relative only processed 50 kilograms of soybean into tofu per day. In fact, previously, the business could process 80 kg to 150 kg of soybean into tofu per day.
A supervisor in the tofu-making process, UA, 39 years old, said the business was struggling to stay afloat. Thus, the management had imposed cost saving measures, one of which was by using a mix of low-quality cooking oil and used cooking oil with a proportion of 1:1. In addition to being cheaper than the fresh cooking oil, the use of used cooking oil makes the tofu more brown so it is more attractive to buyers.
At present, the price of low-quality cooking oil of Rp 11,000 to Rp 13,000 per kg is quite burdensome. Meanwhile, jelantah is Rp 100,000 per jerry can (around 18 liters) or around Rp 6,600 per kg. "The price of ingredients has gone up, but the price of tofu remains around Rp 80,000 for 1,000 pieces," he said.
Based on Kompas\' investigation in Greater Jakarta, the price of used cooking oil marketed to home-scale businesses has increased in recent years. The prices also vary, starting from Rp 100,000 per jerry can in Bogor regency, Rp 110,000 per jerry can in South Jakarta to Rp 150,000 per jerry can in East Jakarta.
The food businesses that use jelantah generally know that the use of used cooking oil does not follow the rules. As much as possible they dodge and claim to only use fresh cooking oil. In an alley in the area where some home industries produce crackers from cowhide on Jl Mampang Prapatan Raya, South Jakarta, for example, not a single business owner admitted to using jelantah.
There are at least 13 households that produce cowhide crackers in the small alley, which is only accessible by motorcycle. However, from observing the cracker production process, the used cooking oil was used during the production particularly to submerge the raw crackers just before they are fried.
Business owners denied using jelantah.
Similarly, used cooking oil was also used at a home industry producing fried shallots in the Pasar Rebo area, East Jakarta. Business owners denied using jelantah. But Md, 39 years old, an employee at one of the fried shallot producers, said the cooking oil used to fry the shredded shallot was all from the used cooking oil delivered by the supplier.
It does not occur to home-scale businessplayers that the use of jelantah has negative effects on the health of consumers. "This business is very profitable. The profit can be double the capital," said Md.
However, not all home-scale businesses use used cooking oil. A tofu producer, Usaha Maju Suplai Pangan, in Palmerah, West Jakarta, uses fresh cooking oil. So does a fried shallot business belonging to Mohammad, 67, in Bojong, Pondok Terong, Depok city, West Java, or JY cowhide cracker business in Pengasinan, Rawa Lumbu, Bekasi city, which still uses low-grade cooking oil and branded cooking oil to maintain quality. "We maintain quality and never use jelantah," said Suhendar, 30, owner of the JY cowhide cracker business.
Although jelantah affects health, regulations that specifically forbid its use for consumption are still minimal. One region that has issued a regulation on this issue is Jakarta, which prohibits the distribution of used cooking oil for human and animal consumption through Jakarta Governor Regulation (Pergub) No. 167/2016 concerning cooking oil waste management.
This regulation encourages that used cooking oil be utilized for alternative fuels in the form of biodiesel or the other non-consumption sector. As long as supervision of the use of used cooking oil continues to be loose, consumers will incur losses. (NIA/BKY/IRE)