City bureau fails to yank cancer-linked edible oil
By Wang Xiang, Lu Feiran and Pan Xiaoyi |
September 3, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
In a sharp about-face, a Chinese edible oil maker has admitted that nine batches of its products contained excessive carcinogen, two weeks after vehemently denying the allegation.
The admission has caused some Shanghai hypermarkets, such as Carrefour and Metro, to remove the cooking oil from their shelves, but no official action had been taken as of yesterday.
Oil from the tainted batches made by Jinhao Camellia Oil Co Ltd was still available in some Shanghai supermarkets and that most consumers had no idea of the scandal or recall.
The Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau said yesterday it was "paying close attention" to the affair, but officials hadn't received any action notice from the state-level bureau nor the product's quality test report from their counterparts in Hunan Province in central China, where Jinhao is based.
Jinhao now says that about 42.5 tons of oil produced from December to March were tainted with benzo(a)pyrene, or BaP, a strong cancer-promoting substance.
In Shanghai, Carrefour and Metro markets said they have stopped selling all the Jinhao products. They have also required suppliers to provide the products' inspection report.
"We'll not resume the sales of the products until they are confirmed to be safe," said Li Jing, an official with Carrefour.
Another two hypermarkets, NGS and the Lotus, however, said they weren't aware of the affair and hadn't taken any action.
The Jinhao company said it had known about the problem since March, when local quality watchdogs seized 22.4 tons in its storage house after finding six times the acceptable amount of BaP in several of Jinhao's food oil products.
Jinhao secretly recalled the oil from the market twice but never issued any public warning to consumers.
The company said it has recalled 11.1 tons of the tainted oil so far, but it had no idea where the other nine tons were.
News of the secret recalls began swirling online early last month. But the company issued a statement on August 20 calling the allegations "ridiculous rumors" released by the company's competitors to sabotage its sales.
The sharp turn in the company's attitude came after media quoted the local quality authority as saying that it had hushed up the news to "maintain social stability."
The authorities said they had required the company to recall the problem products.
Jinhao said yesterday the recall was restricted to the nine tainted batches. But the company's recall has yet to reach many retailers. The Beijing News said the same tainted Jinhao oil is still on the shelves in many small supermarkets in Beijing, although bigger retailers have removed all Jinhao products from the shelves.
Many studies over the last 30 years have documented links between benzo(a)pyrene and cancers.
The admission has caused some Shanghai hypermarkets, such as Carrefour and Metro, to remove the cooking oil from their shelves, but no official action had been taken as of yesterday.
Oil from the tainted batches made by Jinhao Camellia Oil Co Ltd was still available in some Shanghai supermarkets and that most consumers had no idea of the scandal or recall.
The Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau said yesterday it was "paying close attention" to the affair, but officials hadn't received any action notice from the state-level bureau nor the product's quality test report from their counterparts in Hunan Province in central China, where Jinhao is based.
Jinhao now says that about 42.5 tons of oil produced from December to March were tainted with benzo(a)pyrene, or BaP, a strong cancer-promoting substance.
In Shanghai, Carrefour and Metro markets said they have stopped selling all the Jinhao products. They have also required suppliers to provide the products' inspection report.
"We'll not resume the sales of the products until they are confirmed to be safe," said Li Jing, an official with Carrefour.
Another two hypermarkets, NGS and the Lotus, however, said they weren't aware of the affair and hadn't taken any action.
The Jinhao company said it had known about the problem since March, when local quality watchdogs seized 22.4 tons in its storage house after finding six times the acceptable amount of BaP in several of Jinhao's food oil products.
Jinhao secretly recalled the oil from the market twice but never issued any public warning to consumers.
The company said it has recalled 11.1 tons of the tainted oil so far, but it had no idea where the other nine tons were.
News of the secret recalls began swirling online early last month. But the company issued a statement on August 20 calling the allegations "ridiculous rumors" released by the company's competitors to sabotage its sales.
The sharp turn in the company's attitude came after media quoted the local quality authority as saying that it had hushed up the news to "maintain social stability."
The authorities said they had required the company to recall the problem products.
Jinhao said yesterday the recall was restricted to the nine tainted batches. But the company's recall has yet to reach many retailers. The Beijing News said the same tainted Jinhao oil is still on the shelves in many small supermarkets in Beijing, although bigger retailers have removed all Jinhao products from the shelves.
Many studies over the last 30 years have documented links between benzo(a)pyrene and cancers.
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