Recycled cooking oil can cause cancer, heart attack

Malaysian Muslim Doctors Organisation (Perdim) central committee member Dr Zubaidi Ahmad said the toxic content in recycled oil could cause blockage of the blood vessels, as well as increase blood pressure.

"Recycled cooking oil is not guaranteed in terms of safety and cleanliness as it is obtained from waste oil at restaurants or hotels," he said when contacted by Bernama.

He said although the waste oil had been recycled, including going through the process of bleaching and filtering, it was still unsafe for consumption.

He said it was difficult to differentiate between quality and recycled cooking oil as they looked the same as it would require laboratory test to determine their quality.

However, he said, consumers could do their own test to know if their cooking oil was recycled oil.

It can be done by placing the cooking oil in a refrigerator for about two hours, and if looks frothy after that, then it is recycled cooking oil, he added.

Dr Zubaidi advised the people to buy cooking oil produced by licenced companies and also certifified by Sirim.

"Do not go for cheap stuff without looking at its quality because it can be harmful to health," he said, adding that the relevant authorities should also conduct checks on cooking oil manufacturers to ensure they do not produce recycled cooking oil.