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.
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.
Related articles
- China to export gutter oil for jet fuel (indiavision.com)
- * China arrests 1,900 in crackdown on fake drugs (chindia-alert.org)
- Could China’s ‘Gutter Oil’ Be Used To Save The Environment? (ibtimes.com)
- From the gutter to the sky: KLM to fly on Chinese waste oil (wantchinatimes.com)
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 