"vegetable oil" news and stories

Remember all the hoopla about several chocolate companies who were planning on changing the way they made their chocolate? Well, don't include Mars in all that talk.

The company (which makes Milky Way, M&Ms, Snickers, Dove Chocolate, and other chocolate candies and bars) has announced that they are going to keep making their chocolate with 100% cocoa butter. Some have been pushing for the industry to change to cheaper, healthier vegetable oils and fats. One thing I didn't realize is that the FDA says that if a company changes to those oils, they can't call it "chocolate."

The company says that even though they could have saved money by switching, that would hurt the taste of the chocolate. Thank you Mars!

A New Zealand company has declared that the ever increasing interest in running cars on 'biodiesel' fuel has created a huge demand for supplies of waste cooking oil. The company is importing vegetable oil from the India and Africa and is researching the viability of growing plants for fuel oil in New Zealand.

For those interested in converting their cars to a more environmentally caring type the company manufactures a conversion kit that allows vehicles to run on vegetable oil. This costs NZ£4000 enabling the car to run on diesel, recycled or new vegetable oil, biodesal or a combination of the fuels. 

At the moment the company collects most of its oil from restaurants and fast food outlets and recycles for use as a fuel.

'There is outstanding potential in the renewable energy sector to augment or replace diesel fuel with vegetable oil' said the company.

Source

Robert Tomey, a McDonald's franchisee owner, has put his leftover french fry grease to a good use: fueling his car. His stores, he says, produce about 10,000 gallons of excess oil each year and, after having a simple conversion performed on his car, he now has more than enough to get wherever he's going. In fact, Tomey says that 20-30 cars could be powered by that amount of oil. The grease is processed in a way similar to regular diesel fuel.

And Tomey is not the only one who does this. His conversion kit was purchased at Grease Car. Their conversion kits can cost up to approximately $2,000 and their emissions statistics are intended to provide potential consumers with an idea of how they'll be helping the environment if they convert a diesel car to run on vegetable oil. There seem to be many people who have successfully converted their cars, so it is possible we may see even more of them in the future, especially if McDonald's began to recommend this as an option to their franchisees, since it does seem like a great use for leftover grease.

Source