Chinese police have detained 32 people in a nationwide crackdown on "gutter oil" or old kitchen oil that is drawn from gutters and sold for cooking.
The Ministry of Public Security said in a statement on its website that police had seized 100 tons (90 metric tons) of the potentially harmful oil in 14 provinces.
The rumor that "gutter oil" goes onto dinner tables has finally been confirmed.
However, the sting operation comes more than a year after Chinese state media reported that up to one-tenth of cooking oil was made from recycled waste oil. The trade has been a problem in China for years - the business is said to be very profitable because of the low costs of the waste oil and refining process.
Crux of the problem
Evils could take root and grow wherever supervision and control are not in place or in good time.
Every day, China produces a large amount of cooking waste, which is basically out of supervision. There hasn't been any rules of norms on collection, delivery and treatment of these wastes. This provides room for profiteers.
Who should be responsible for the supervision of "gutter oil"? No specific authority has yet claimed responsibility for that. The quality control sectors only conduct sample examination on products reported by individuals. While restaurants, biggest purchasers of "gutter oil", are reticent about the truth, individuals find it difficult to find out "gutter oil".
Alluring profits and absence of supervision jointly contribute to the rampancy of the "gutter oil" business.
Public opinions are demanding a feasible solution to the problem. Some successful foreign experiences in governmental involvement and waste recycling may shed a light. Many countries have explicit stipulations on treatment of "gutter oil" and thus all the cooking waste is under supervision. And some countries found way to block "gutter oil" profiteers from the source. For example, in Japan all the waste oil is recycled by special companies, who then sell it to government at a high price. The government then changes it into fuels after refining.
The action of authorities is undoutedly fundamental to combatting illegal "gutter oil" business. Other similar food safety problems can, presumably, be tackled likewise.
