French fries, chicken nuggets, onion rings, eggrolls and other fried favorites in restaurants and cafeterias are cooked in oil that gets reused hundreds of times. 

This common practice seems economical. After all, changing oil with every batch – or even every day – would jack up the price of the food unreasonably.

However, there’s a huge hidden health cost of reusing frying oil. And it’s not just that oil contributes to obesity and clogged arteries.

Oil degrades with every reheating. You can see and smell the changes, but what you can’t see is that the high temperatures and exposure to food, water and air cause carcinogenic (cancer-causing) compounds such as acrylamide, free radicals, charcoal and free fatty acids to build up in the reused oil. 

These compounds pose a significant health hazard according to numerous scientific studies. 

The risk of cancer from reused cooking oil affects not only consumers, who ingest approximately 20 percent of the unhealthful absorbed oil, but also kitchen personnel who breathe in these carcinogens as they work.

Israeli food-tech company Beyond Oil has a patented answer to this problem.  

In 2010, Michael Pinhas Or, motivated by his own health issues, embarked on a mission to make fried foods healthier.

Over the next 15 years, he did extensive research and invented a unique powder, comprised of approved food additives, that absorbs harmful components from fried oil, slows the rate of deterioration reactions, and filters the oil so it can be reused while preserving its quality. 

By 2023, his invention was ready for commercial use. 

Transformative moment

Based in North Vancouver, Canada, and Kibbutz Yifat in Israel, the publicly traded company successfully tested the product in both countries.

Its effectiveness was confirmed in a study by Prof. Nissim Garti, former director of the Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Beyond Oil integrates into the existing filtration systems of commercial and industrial fryers, combining the active filtration of the powder with the passive filtration of the filter system. 

The powder is added to the used oil daily, working its magic overnight, and remains on the filter providing an additional layer of microfiltration.

Beyond Oil won the FoodTech Company of the Year award at the 2024 Israeli Restaurateurs Conference.

Now, after completing joint pilot programs with Israeli franchisees of major international food-service companies, Beyond Oil is being adopted in Israel by two global fast-food chain brands.

“This is a transformative moment for Beyond Oil,” said Beyond Oil CEO and cofounder Jonathan Or, son of the inventor.

He said branches using the product saw “substantial improvements in frying oil and food quality, yielding significant health benefits and enhancing key franchise group objectives such as environmental sustainability, employee wellbeing, guest experience, operational efficiency, and reductions in food and labor costs.”

In some cases, Or added, “the positive outcomes from the pilot exceeded the results in Beyond Oil’s existing public disclosure materials.”

The company’s leaders in Canada are working to expand the company’s collaboration with fast-food chains and industrial frying companies in North America. 

“We are lining up proof of concepts and pilot programs with other major international fast-food chains to bring the results that we are bringing to customers we have now: removing the toxins from the food oil as they continually fry food every day, so the food is healthier and there are environmental and cost-saving benefits for the restaurants,” said Beyond Oil Vice President Robert Kiesman.

Environmental benefits

Beyond Oil’s filtration powder has positive environmental impacts by extending the lifespan of vegetable oil used in frying, both in commercial kitchens and in industrial facilities.

Among these benefits, as described by Or:

• Minimizing the environmental footprint associated with oil disposal. 

• Reducing emissions of hazardous volatile substances and decreasing energy consumption in cooking oil refineries. From production to usage, every kilo of vegetable oil outputs 4 kilos of carbon dioxide, says Or.

• Lessening the burden on sewage systems and groundwater by reducing the volume of oil intended for treatment.

• Reducing overland or maritime transportation of oil, which in turn helps prevent soil contamination, air pollution from gas emissions, and ocean contamination.

• Potentially lowering costs for quick-service restaurants by significantly extending the useful life of the oil while meeting food quality and safety requirements. 

Impacting used oil collection

“When we saw what Beyond Oil can do, we almost wanted to keep it a secret because it would hurt our business dramatically,” says Shai Medioni only half seriously. 

Medioni is the head of Fandango, Israel’s oldest and largest used cooking oil collection and distribution company.

“But in the long term, our customers benefit and their best interest is our best interest,” says Medioni, “so we made a strategic decision in May 2023 to distribute this product. It’s the right thing to do for our customers and the environment and everybody’s health. This is a win-win-win product that in the long term will benefit all and us as well.”

This year, Fandango has distributed Beyond Oil to about 390 customers so far. 

“When using Beyond Oil, a food establishment is not only serving better fried food to customers but the work environment is completely different in terms of the health and safety of employees. When using Beyond Oil, the airborne carcinogenic substance as well as the smell of frying is dramatically reduced in the kitchen and on the clothing of employees. It’s really a gamechanger,” says Medioni. 

Medioni adds that the product’s contribution to sustainability is easily measurable.

“We are collecting less than half of the oil from restaurants compared to previous collections. This means less transportation of fresh frying oil to the restaurant and less collected from the restaurant, dramatically reducing the carbon footprint. Also, because production of oil is very polluting to sewer water and takes a lot of energy, the whole cycle is improved.”

Fandango recently introduced the powder to one of Israel’s largest hotel chains, says Medioni.

“We are demonstrating to them extremely significant reduction in oil consumption – 50 to 60 percent — and  a 26-30% cost reduction,” he says. 

“Now they are arranging training for all their chain’s kitchen staff as they plan to roll it out to more of the chain’s properties.”