How to Maintain the Quality of Your Cooking Oil

It’s not news by now that prices on practically everything customers purchase has increased given that the pandemic. Go to any grocery or department store, and you’ll see right now that your normal selections cost more– and a lot more, not just a small increment due to “typical” inflation.

The exact same opts for even the most mundane products, such as cooking oil. But while cooking oil may appear like the most typical, important, no-frills kitchen area pantry product, its cost and schedule actually have a far-ranging effect. All dining establishments and food service facilities utilize it; without standard cooking oil, the core staples of most Americans’ diets wouldn’t be possible to prepare. Even internationally, numerous cuisines that prepare hot food couldn’t do so without basic cooking oil.

Rising Costs

The surge in prices triggered by factors connected to the COVID-19 pandemic has actually made it tough for many food service businesses to function. Compounding is the increased theft of cooking oil, directly related to its deficiency and value. Now restaurants also have to stress over what cooking oil they do have on hand being stolen. Considering all these aspects, the best strategy for food services right now is to protect the quality of their existing cooking oil and take actions to secure it from theft.

How to Preserve/Extend the Life of Cooking Oil

The rates of oilseeds and vegetable oils saw a sharp increase in early 2020 as the pandemic made itself amazingly apparent. Vegetable oils are currently still at their highest price since 2010. Among the main factors is that need for it is reviving as the world “resumes” and tries to resume service given that the pandemic quarantines have actually ended. Another factor is post-pandemic labor scarcities. The rising price of petroleum has also contributed to the rise in cooking oil costs.

So the best way for dining establishments to mitigate these expenses is to extend the life of existing cooking oil to get the most utilize out of it. Filtering is the primary way to do this. Filtering the oil gets rid of particles and impurities, which in turn assists maintain the quality of the oil and the taste of the food cooked in it. You must filter your cooking oil often: every fourth load of food is the suggested frequency to get the most out of your oil.

You can filter your oil in two ways, depending upon its particular usage:

Passive filtering

This type of filtering removes particles by passing the oil through a product such as stainless-steel, paper, material, or carbon. Material and carbon are great options due to the fact that they eliminate particles of all sizes and can be recycled.

Active filtering

This sort of filtering uses a chemical filter powder that eliminates protein, blood, and other biological impurities that passive filtering typically misses out on. Active filtering need to be done when frying meat and seafood.

In addition to filtering, you can take other cooking oil maintenance steps to preserve its quality and extend its life.

• Make certain frozen food is thawed before frying. Frozen food releases moisture as it thaws, which can dilute and degrade the oil if positioned directly in the oil before a thaw.
• Fill fry baskets far from the oil to prevent food particles from falling in. Avoid salting food over the oil, and skim off any particles that have actually fallen in.
• Complement the fryer with fresh oil regularly.
• Keep fryers covered when not in use to prevent particles from falling in and to prevent oxidation.
  Tidy fryers according to producer guidelines. Just usage cleansing items defined by the producer.
• Do not cook above 360 degrees Fahrenheit as cooking oil starts to degrade above a temperature level of 300 and may reach its smoke point above 360. Bring the temperature down to 280 when the fryer is idle.

What to Understand About Cooking Oil Theft

As discussed, the greater rate and deficiency of cooking oil has made it more valuable. Utilized cooking oil is also a product due to the fact that it can be recycled and turned into diesel fuel. These aspects have caused an increase in cooking oil theft from restaurants. Thieves who take used cooking oil from storage tanks can make thousands reselling it. However there are actions that restaurants can take to prevent this from occurring.

• Lock up the oil tank. If it’s enclosed within a gated location, lock eviction too.
• Location a security cam on the tank to hinder burglars.
• Make certain staff members understand your cooking oil company and its delivery truck. Report suspicious activity and unacknowledged trucks.
• Speak to an ecological security expert to learn more about the alternatives they provide.

How to Preserve the Quality of Your Cooking Oil Amid Rising Cooking Oil Rates

Rising food costs in the post-pandemic period have made it tough for many food service companies to work. Cooking oil is a particularly necessary item that has actually been hardest hit. Restaurants require to focus on preserving the quality of their oil and extending its life to get the most out of it and minimize these costs.

Taking preventive actions to hinder theft is also essential. With an excellent cooking oil management technique, your food service establishment can ensure that it endures the aftermath of the pandemic and makes it to much better times ahead.

For more on how you can recycle your cooking oil, contact us today!

How Can Your Business Contribute to American Energy Security?

Having lived through the COVID-19 pandemic, by now most of us are aware that the world is in the middle of an energy crisis caused by that pandemic. Just this year along, gas prices have fluctuated wildly, staying sky high for the better part of the year.

We are becoming painfully more aware that we need to shift our dependence on crude oil to alternative forms of energy. One such option is recycling used cooking oil (UCO) into renewable biodiesel.

Biofuels are fast becoming a viable source of alternative energy for a range of applications. Their use can help stabilize energy security in the U.S. and around the world. Because they are derived from UCO, foodservice establishments are in a key position to help contribute to energy security by regularly scheduling the retrieval and recycling of their used oil with a professional environmental service.

Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) As an Alternative Energy Source

Let’s start with a short science lesson. Biofuels are traditionally made from animal fats and the oils from plant sources such as sugar cane, corn starch, soybeans, and canola. But it is possible to make fuel from straight vegetable oil (SVO). It’s done by fermenting the recycled oil to form bio alcohols such as ethanol, propanol, and butanol.

You may be familiar with ethanol as it is the most commonly used bio alcohol. You have probably seen it at the gas pump as the E85 fuel offered for flexible fuel vehicles.

How Can Your Business Contribute to American Energy Security?

A few important side notes here: SVO fuels differ from traditionally made biodiesel fuels. SVO fuels are good for short-term needs, but they do not hold up well long term. SVO has high viscosity and a high boiling point, which can cause carbon deposits to build up within the engine over time.

Carbon build-up can then contribute to higher engine maintenance costs and shorter engine life. So while biodiesel fuel is made with SVO as one of its components, it uses a different process. Essentially that process lowers the viscosity and boiling point, which improves the performance and longevity of the engine.

Economic Benefits of Biodiesel

Switching to biofuels appears to offer several potential benefits to the economy and the environment:

• Biofuels come from renewable sources (vegetables) unlike fossil fuels, which are made from crude oil.
• Biofuels create fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than burning fossil fuels.
• Biofuels reduce pollutant emissions because they have a more complete combustion than fossil fuels, which create pollutants through partial combustion.
• Biofuels can be produced domestically, which decreases the U.S. reliance on international fossil fuel. Supply issues created by the pandemic had hard-hitting impacts at the gas pump this year alone.

It is worth noting that in order for the above benefits to be fully realized, the increase in biofuels must coincide with a decrease in fossil fuels. The hard truth is that biofuels will have very little effect if the production and use of fossil fuels continues. Biofuels will truly make a difference when they replace fossil fuels.

Challenges of Biofuel Production

Before we can reap the potential benefits of biodiesel, we have to resolve the challenges of switching to it.

Increased crop production: Biofuels require crops that would otherwise be used for human and animal consumption. More crops would need to be grown in order to accommodate the increased demand, which could potentially lead to higher food prices.
Increased GHG emissions: Changes in land use can still increase GHG emissions, even while biofuels produce less of them. Also biorefineries (which produce biofuels) still operate on fossil fuels, ironically.
Increased pollution: Because of the increased crop production, water pollution could result from nutrients and pesticides. Air pollution could also come from the biorefineries.
Higher crop prices: Since biofuels use crops that are already in demand for human and animal consumption, the higher demand could lead to higher food prices.

How Your Business Can Help Contribute to American Energy Security?

If your business is in the foodservice industry, you can help propel the U.S. toward more biofuel production and less reliance on fossil fuels. You can work with a licensed UCO recycler to pick up your UCO, recycle it at their facility, and then send it for biofuel production. Regular UCO collection from your establishment will also help improve its safety and efficiency.

While there is still a lot of work to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel, the economic and environmental benefits of biodiesel show enough promise that your contribution to its development will be worth your time and effort.