Food safety fears over 'leftover oil'
By Wang Qingchu |
October 19, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NEW food safety concerns have emerged after an underground factory making cooking oil from leftovers collected from restaurants and canteens was discovered by police in a major city in southwest China.
However, officers in Chongqing are now trying to figure out if they can charge those involved, as the oil produced from meat, soup and other kitchen waste is not recognized by law as toxic.
This is in contrast to "swill oil" - oil ladled from restaurant drains, refined and resold - which has been the focus of high-profile crackdowns.
The operation sold the "leftovers oil" to restaurants in Chongqing and the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Henan, Hunan and Guizhou, Xinhua news agency reported.
It refined enough illegal oil to supply 2,600 households for one year, the report said.
In its underground factory, a former pig shed, kitchen waste was stored in cement pits. A cauldron was used to boil off food waste, local police said.
Leftovers oil is hard to detect because its laboratory test results match legal cooking oil, officials said.
Bought leftovers
Cao Xianhe, owner of the underground factory, bought leftovers from university canteens and restaurants, boiled them and filtered away big particles, Xinhua reported.
Then Cao sold the partly refined product to professional companies, such as Guannan Fengshuo Oil-Fat Plant, for further refining.
Then the oil was sold on to grain, oil and food companies, labeled as cooking oil and sold to customers, the report said.
The investigation showed the business was highly profitable. Paying only a token fee for kitchen waste, after processing, it could sell for 8,000 to 9,000 yuan (US$1,256-1,413) per ton.
Refineries can extract around 0.7-0.8 ton of cooking oil from each ton of kitchen leftovers.
Traders have taken advantage of these types of kitchen waste which cannot be recycled through regular channels, such as being refined for industrial use, said officials.
Recycled oil can contain carcinogens and traces of aflatoxin, a potentially deadly mold, they added.
In a nationwide crackdown last month, police detained 32 people for allegedly making and selling swill oil.
However, officers in Chongqing are now trying to figure out if they can charge those involved, as the oil produced from meat, soup and other kitchen waste is not recognized by law as toxic.
This is in contrast to "swill oil" - oil ladled from restaurant drains, refined and resold - which has been the focus of high-profile crackdowns.
The operation sold the "leftovers oil" to restaurants in Chongqing and the provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Henan, Hunan and Guizhou, Xinhua news agency reported.
It refined enough illegal oil to supply 2,600 households for one year, the report said.
In its underground factory, a former pig shed, kitchen waste was stored in cement pits. A cauldron was used to boil off food waste, local police said.
Leftovers oil is hard to detect because its laboratory test results match legal cooking oil, officials said.
Bought leftovers
Cao Xianhe, owner of the underground factory, bought leftovers from university canteens and restaurants, boiled them and filtered away big particles, Xinhua reported.
Then Cao sold the partly refined product to professional companies, such as Guannan Fengshuo Oil-Fat Plant, for further refining.
Then the oil was sold on to grain, oil and food companies, labeled as cooking oil and sold to customers, the report said.
The investigation showed the business was highly profitable. Paying only a token fee for kitchen waste, after processing, it could sell for 8,000 to 9,000 yuan (US$1,256-1,413) per ton.
Refineries can extract around 0.7-0.8 ton of cooking oil from each ton of kitchen leftovers.
Traders have taken advantage of these types of kitchen waste which cannot be recycled through regular channels, such as being refined for industrial use, said officials.
Recycled oil can contain carcinogens and traces of aflatoxin, a potentially deadly mold, they added.
In a nationwide crackdown last month, police detained 32 people for allegedly making and selling swill oil.
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