Authorities ban recycled cooking oil in animal feed
The Swiss authorities on Tuesday said that cooking oil collected in public recycling containers should no longer be used in animal feeds.
As a precaution in the wake of the Belgian dioxin food scare, Swiss authorities Tuesday said that cooking oil collected in public recycling containers should no longer be used in animal feeds.
Given that public cooking oil containers are usually next to those for used motor oil, there was a potential risk of a mixup causing contamination, the agriculture ministry said.
One of the theories in the Belgian food scandal is that old motor oil was mixed with feed, contaminating it with dioxin and passing the cancer-causing chemical to the animals and down the food chain.
The environmentally aware Swiss place great emphasis on recycling. Officials said that in future, cooking fats would be burned in special containers.
Used fat collected by specialist firms from hotels and restaurants will not be affected by the ban.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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