Chinese police have seized more than 3,200
tonnes of a new type of "gutter oil" made from decomposing animal fat
and internal organs, said the Ministry of Public Security.
More
than 100 people suspected of producing the oil were detained in a March 21
food-safety operation that covered two municipalities and four provinces,
according to a statement issued by the ministry yesterday.
Police
also closed down 13 underground workshops that were producing the oil, the
statement said.
Previously,
the phrase "gutter oil" referred to the reprocessing of used oil and
even restaurant leftovers, which were then resold as cooking oil.
However,
the new strain is made from meat that was past its sell-by date and of low
quality, and even rotten animal fat and internal organs, according to the
statement.
In
October, residents in Jinhua city, East China's Zhejiang province, told local
police that they often smelled a foul odor in an area on the outskirts and
suspected that gutter oil was being made there, said the ministry.
After a
five-month investigation, police found that the group, led by a man called Li
Weijian, was producing illegal oil and had animal carcasses and organs in their
workshop, said the statement.
The
products were then sold to refiners in the provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu, and
the municipality of Chongqing. The oil was then used by restaurants as a base
for hotpots, the statement said.
Li's
gang earned more than 10 million yuan (US$1.59 million) between January and
November 2011, according to the ministry.
Although
China launched a nationwide campaign to fight practices such as this in August
2011, several food-safety scandals, including cases involving gutter oil and
the illegal addition of pig feed to foodstuffs, still occurred.
"The
campaign has made some achievements, but there is no well-organised mechanism
for the collection, transportation and supervision of gutter oil in
China," said a senior ministry official, who declined to be named.
A few
criminals and even some businesses take advantage of those loopholes to make
illegal profits by endangering the health of residents, according to the
official.
The
statement disclosed that the ministry has pledged to make greater efforts to
safeguard food safety and combat any related offences.
Yi
Shenghua, a Beijing-based lawyer who works for the Yingke Law Firm, said the
circumstances of the transprovincial crime were extremely serious.
"The
case involved a large sum of money and the products were sold across a wide
area, including four provinces and two municipalities, which may pose a health
risk to many people," he said.
"The
new type of gutter oil uses rotten animal meat and fat as raw materials, which
may result in extremely severe health problems," he said. "Judges
need to consider the public reaction when sentencing those convicted of such
crimes."
Those
who engage in such activities should be punished severely, said Yi.
"Unsafe food may affect thousands of people and even destroy the health of
an entire generation," he added.
Hotpot
devotee Fan Jing, a 27-year-old Chongqing resident, said she was not surprised
by the case, and added that she will choose more expensive restaurants in
future to minimise the risk.
"I
can't live without hotpot, even though I know many restaurants use gutter
oil," she said.
Cao Yin
and Luo Wangshu
China
Daily
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
No comments:
Post a Comment