Swill-oil scandal takes new turn
By Li Xinran |
March 22, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SOME big hotels and restaurants are accused of being involved - perhaps inadvertently - in a China-wide scandal involving the recycling of filthy kitchen waste to produce so-called swill oil for human consumption.
The story first came to light late last week when it was revealed that the use of swill oil was rampant at roadside restaurants and that 2 to 3 million tons of drain and gutter grease may be recycled annually to produce the illegal substance.
Now the head of a biodiesel fuel processer in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, is saying that well-known hotels and restaurants are exacerbating the problem by supplying recyclers with questionable qualifications.
Zeng Wei, the Wuhan executive, said some big hotels and restaurants had deals with waste-oil recyclers who paid about 50,000 yuan (US$7,324) each per year for their kitchen gunk.
These hotels and restaurants sold the food waste to regular buyers, Zeng told Xinhua news agency yesterday.
According to Zeng, oil recyclers usually hire migrant workers to pick up grease from kitchen drains and collect food waste from connected restaurants every day.
Zeng said part of this waste became pig food, also an illegal practice.
The rest of the gunk was used to extract swill oil for resale to unscrupulous restaurants and food markets, Zeng said.
Most illegal oil refineries are on pig farms in the outer suburbs of major cities and merely equipped with ovens and huge vats.
Local sanitation authorities often charge restaurants or hotels about 1,000 yuan per ton to dispose of food waste and oven and burner grease, according to Xinhua.
If the waste oil is sold, a profit emerges.
Plus, each ton of waste oil can be recycled to produce 0.8 tons of "edible oil" for a total cost of just 300 yuan.
Swill oil is sold back at 3,000 yuan per ton, half of the standard product's price.
Shanghai's food safety watchdog carried out random swill-oil checks last Fridayas part of nationwide swoops to stop the practice.
The story first came to light late last week when it was revealed that the use of swill oil was rampant at roadside restaurants and that 2 to 3 million tons of drain and gutter grease may be recycled annually to produce the illegal substance.
Now the head of a biodiesel fuel processer in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, is saying that well-known hotels and restaurants are exacerbating the problem by supplying recyclers with questionable qualifications.
Zeng Wei, the Wuhan executive, said some big hotels and restaurants had deals with waste-oil recyclers who paid about 50,000 yuan (US$7,324) each per year for their kitchen gunk.
These hotels and restaurants sold the food waste to regular buyers, Zeng told Xinhua news agency yesterday.
According to Zeng, oil recyclers usually hire migrant workers to pick up grease from kitchen drains and collect food waste from connected restaurants every day.
Zeng said part of this waste became pig food, also an illegal practice.
The rest of the gunk was used to extract swill oil for resale to unscrupulous restaurants and food markets, Zeng said.
Most illegal oil refineries are on pig farms in the outer suburbs of major cities and merely equipped with ovens and huge vats.
Local sanitation authorities often charge restaurants or hotels about 1,000 yuan per ton to dispose of food waste and oven and burner grease, according to Xinhua.
If the waste oil is sold, a profit emerges.
Plus, each ton of waste oil can be recycled to produce 0.8 tons of "edible oil" for a total cost of just 300 yuan.
Swill oil is sold back at 3,000 yuan per ton, half of the standard product's price.
Shanghai's food safety watchdog carried out random swill-oil checks last Fridayas part of nationwide swoops to stop the practice.
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