We've talked about this before, and out of all the food safety scandals coming out of China, like the toxic infant formula, pesticide-tainted vegetables, exploding watermelons, "lean meat powder" and pork reconstituted as beef— "gutter oil is still one of the most nauseating.
For those who haven't heard, "gutter oil" is the resale of used cooking oil that has been scooped from sewers.
Gutter oil- old kitchen oil that has been illegally recycled- carcinogens and traces of aflatoxin, a potentially deadly mold.
A crackdown by Chinese police shows just how big this thing has become.
In a six-month investigation spread across 14 provinces, police say they broke up six illicit oil recyclers and arrested 32 suspects. The authorities recovered 100 tons of gutter oil they say was being processed for
China consumes about 22.5 million tons of cooking oil annually, and as much as one out of every ten restaurant meals has been cooked in the waste.
The Jinan Green Bio Oil Company in Shandong, was suppose to be a biodiesel firm, but now it's being accused of reprocessing gutter oil for more lucrative sales back into food markets. Investigators found 70 tons of "gutter oil" in various stages of processing at the company.
Safety experts are saying it might take ten years before the country cleans up is gutter oil problem.
