Posts tagged ‘Cooking oil’

06/02/2015

China seizes 30,000 in 2014 for food, drug crimes – Xinhua | English.news.cn

Chinese police apprehended nearly 30,000 in connection with food and drug safety offences in 2014, closing 35,000 illegal factories and workshops, the Ministry of Public Security revealed Friday.

Food safety is still a serious problem in China, despite of some improvement, the ministry’s Hua Jingfeng told a press conference.

Hua noted that cases related to baby formula and “gutter oil” have decreased, but those concerning other substandard foods have increased.

Violations by big companies have dropped substantially while cases involving small companies and workshops increased, he said.

Some new crimes have emerged, including injecting Epinephrine Hydrochloride into pork which makes the pork look fresh and adds weight.

Last month, police arrested more than 110 suspects for selling pork from diseased pigs, confiscating over 1,000 tons of contaminated pork and 48 tons of cooking oil processed from the pork and other unclean meat.

via China seizes 30,000 in 2014 for food, drug crimes – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

22/10/2014

Boeing and Chinese partner to make jet fuel from ‘gutter oil’ | Reuters

Aircraft makers Boeing and Commercial Aircraft Corp of China have launched a joint pilot project to turn used cooking oil into jet fuel.


Embed from Getty Images

Their plant, based in the southeastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, will be able to convert just under 240,000 litres a year of used cooking oil into fuel, Boeing said in a statement.

The project will allow the two aircraft makers to test the viability of producing biofuel using the cheap and widely available form of cooking waste, referred to in China as “gutter oil“.

Boeing and its Chinese state-owned partner estimate that 1.8 billion litres of fuel could be produced in China a year using gutter oil.

In February, the Civil Aviation Administration of China granted a subsidiary of state-owned behemoth Sinopec Corp a licence to produce jet fuel from used cooking oil.

Gutter oil has long been a public health concern in China due to its widespread use in restaurants. Used cooking oil can contain toxic compounds and is often considered insanitary.

Chinese media reported in 2010 that crime rings were collecting used cooking oil from sewers and drains, rebottling it and selling it as new.

Over the past two years, dozens of people have been given lengthy prison sentences for the scam, which has made many Chinese in major cities sick. Last year one man was sentenced to life in prison for making and trafficking gutter oil.

via Boeing and Chinese partner to make jet fuel from ‘gutter oil’ | Reuters.

27/05/2013

* Gutter oil to be used as auto fuel

China Daily: “Authorities aim to keep waste from returning to the kitchen

Gutter oil to be used as auto fuel

Processed gutter oil is expected to be used as bus fuel within two years in Shanghai, as part of efforts to advance a circular economy and prevent recycled cooking oil from returning to the kitchen.

A China Eastern Airlines ground crew fills an airliner with biofuel made from gutter oil and palm oil at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport on April 14. The Airbus A320 succesfully made a one-and-a-half hour test flight with the fuel. CHEN FEI / XINHUA

The Shanghai Municipal Food Safety Committee will cooperate with Tongji University and six businesses that process used cooking oil into biodiesel that can power vehicles, said Yan Zuqiang, the committee’s director, in an interview with a local news portal on Saturday.

Owing to the comparatively high cost of transforming recycled cooking oil to vehicle diesel, those who use the oil will receive subsidies, he said.

Lou Diming, a professor at Tongji’s School of Automotive Studies who has led the study for the past three years, said after many experiments it is now the right time to turn the application of recycled cooking oil for vehicles into a reality.

His team has experimented with using mixed diesel fuel on more than 300 taxis, buses and lorries.

A regulation regarding the proper disposal of waste oil, including a clarification of the qualifications of oil collectors, came into effect in Shanghai in March.

The municipality leads the country in supervising the collection of waste oil, and at least 90 percent of its oil has been recycled appropriately, according to Yan.”

via Gutter oil to be used as auto fuel |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/economic-factors/greening-of-china/

03/09/2012

* China probes ‘gutter oil in medicine’ claims

BBC News: “Chinese officials have told pharmaceutical firms to check their suppliers after claims that some have used “gutter oil” to make antibiotics, state-run media report.

File photo: Police inspecting illegal cooking oil seized in 2010

Officials are looking into firms that reportedly use the cheaper gutter oil rather than the more expensive soy bean oil in the production process.

Gutter oil is reprocessed kitchen waste dredged from restaurant drains.

It has been part of a series of recent food safety scandals in China.

The government said it would release its findings soon, without giving further details.

It is not clear whether these antibiotics pose a risk to public health, but the incident highlights how some firms cut corners to pursue profits, says the BBC’s Martin Patience in Beijing.

Scandals over contaminated food – most recently gutter oil – have caused considerable public alarm in China in recent years.

In April, state-run media reported on how officials cracked down on underground workshops that used decomposing animal fat and organs to produce gutter oil.

Police said that most of the oil was sold to oil manufacturers for food production and making hotpot soup in restaurants.

In September last year, police arrested 32 people in an operation to prevent the sale of gutter oil as cooking oil.”

via BBC News – China probes ‘gutter oil in medicine’ claims.

There seem to be no limits to the unethical behaviour of some Chinese business people. Central government is trying to do its best, in pharmaceuticals,and  food production, but the miscreants carry on.

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