Gutter oil is a term used in China and Taiwan to describe illicit cooking oil which has
been recycled from waste oil collected from sources such as restaurant fryers, sewer drains,
grease traps and slaughterhouse waste. Reprocessing is often very rudimentary; techniques include
filtration, boiling, refining and the removal of adulterants. It is then packaged and resold
as a cheaper alternative to normal cooking oil. Another version of gutter oil uses discarded
animal parts, animal fat and skins, internal organs, and expired or otherwise low-quality
meat which is then cooked in large vats in order to extract the oil. Used kitchen oil
can be purchased for between 859 and 937 dollars per ton while the cleaned and refined product
can sell for 1,560 per ton. Thus there is great economic incentive to produce and sell
gutter oil. It is estimated that up to one in every ten lower market restaurant meals
consumed in China is prepared with gutter oil. This high prevalence is due to what Feng
Ping of the China Meat Research Center has made clear: "The illegal oil shows no difference
in appearance and indicators after refining and purification because the law breakers
are skillful at coping with the established standards."
The first documented case of gutter oil in mainland China was reported in 2000, when
a street vendor was found to be selling oil obtained from restaurant garbage disposals.
The first documented case of gutter oil in Taiwan was reported in 1985. In subsequent
investigation, 22 people were arrested for involvement in a recycling oil ring over 10
years based in Taipei. The worst offender was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Additionally, some reported an earlier incident in Taiwan in the 1960s, where "Trench Oil"
was imported from Japan to Taiwan and then used in food processing.
In September 2012, an ongoing investigation into the suspected use of gutter oil as a
raw material in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry was revealed. A massive scandal involving
240 tons of gutter oil in Taiwan affecting hundreds of companies and thousands of eateries
broke in September 2014, some of which may have been exported overseas.
Production and distribution The collected waste oil is sold to local workshops
or small factories for cleaning and packaging. When sold to workshops it is often transported
on the back of bicycles by peddlers who are paid a monthly fee and then the oil is held
in 55 lb dingy round barrels at the workshops until it is processed. On other occasions
the oil goes to industrial cooking oil refiners for further processing before it finally reaches
its end purpose. The industrial oil refiners are usually legitimate producers that sell
the processed oil for use in the chemical or energy industries. Gutter oil is perfectly
suited as a raw ingredient for producing soap, rubber, bio-fuel and cosmetics. However, the
refiners can also have other intentions as the prices attained by selling it as cooking
oil are much higher than if it is sold to the chemical or energy industries. There are
no proper rules nor protocols in place to prevent purchases from or sales to entities
intending to use the oil for human consumption. So it is very common for individuals or wholesalers
to purchase oil from these industrial refineries and then resell the oil to restaurants or
to end consumers. There have even been some cases where the industrial oil refiner will
package the oil under a unique brand name and sell it as legitimate oil in retail outlets
as opposed to just selling directly to restaurants. Some lower market restaurants have long-term
purchase agreements with oil recyclers for selling their used oil.
Lower market restaurants and street vendors are the biggest end buyers of gutter oil as
they operate with lower profit margins than bigger restaurants. Moreover, it is also one
of the largest kitchen expenses for restaurants, so obtaining cheaper oil can allow an offending
restaurant to reduce its overall expenses. Chinese food is generally heavily dependent
on oil due to most foods being fried so cheaper meal prices for the many cost conscious consumers
are possible if gutter oil is used instead of virgin oil. The situation becomes more
serious due to the fact that it is hard to distinguish reprocessed gutter oil from legitimate
oil. Bleach is used to transform gutter oil's dark color into a more natural one and alkali
additives are used to neutralize the abnormal pH caused by containing high concentrations
of animal fats. Health effects
Gutter oil has been shown to be very toxic, and can cause diarrhea and abdominal pain.
There are also reports that long-term consumption of the oil can lead to stomach and liver cancer
as well as developmental disabilities in newborns and children. Testing of some samples of gutter
oil have revealed traces of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, a dangerous organic pollutant
capable of causing cancer with long-term consumption. There is also potential for gutter oil to
contain aflatoxins, highly carcinogenic compounds produced by certain molds. Zeng Jing of the
Guangdong Armed Police Hospital said about gutter oil "Animal and vegetable fat in refined
waste oil will undergo rancidity, oxidation and decomposition after contamination, and
produce toxic substances such as arsenic. It will cause indigestion, insomnia, liver
discomfort and other symptoms". Regulations and law enforcement
Current Chinese law states that industrial animal fat is not allowed for use in food
products because it doesn't meet basic hygiene standards and contains high levels of potentially
toxic chemical substances. The national and local governments are currently researching
ways to test and identify gutter oil but as of 2012 there are not any nationwide standards
in place to help with this process. The government is looking into methods that rely on technical
equipment as well as on-site instant tests to screen suspect oil. There have already
been 5 proposed tests for gutter oil but each has failed to accurately detect it.
In August and September 2011 the Beijing city government passed two new sets of regulations.
The first was "On Accelerating the City's Food Waste and Waste Oil Recycling Program."
Its goals are to increase daily food waste processing to 2,200 tons by 2012 and to 2,900
tons by 2015. Additionally, the intent of the regulations are to create a system that
"should be a unified, standardized, and orderly processing of waste oil collection and improvement
of the transportation system". The second set of regulations passed by the city of Beijing
were in September 2011. They are called the "Beijing Municipal Solid Waste Regulations."
The regulations specifically target the two sources of gutter oil, food waste and used
oil. The central government intends for these two sets of regulations to serve as national
examples, yet wants every municipality nationally to find their own solutions to the food waste
and gutter oil problem. A nationwide campaign was set in motion in
August 2011 to crackdown on the widespread production and selling of gutter oil. The
law enforcement campaign uncovered 100 gutter oil manufacturers and arrested more than 800
people allegedly involved in the production and sale of gutter oil. In April 2012 another
crackdown occurred with an additional 100 arrests made and 13 illegal workshops closed
down across 4 provinces. According to a notice released jointly by the Supreme People's Court,
the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security the death penalty
will now be an option when prosecuting more serious cases of gutter oil manufacturing
in the country. More severe punishments will also be given out to government and public
officials who fail to properly address matters related to gutter oil. The State Council said
inspectors would target edible oil trade fairs and wholesale markets and called for inspections
of oil being used at restaurants, school cafeterias, work canteens and kitchens at construction
sites. The State Council also stated that businesses that use recycled oil would be
forced to close temporarily or lose their business license while peddlers who sell the
oil could be criminally prosecuted. See also
Food safety incidents in China References
External links The Making Of 'Gutter Oil'
Gutter oil:explained video China cracks down on restaurant gutter oil
video Recycled Gutter Oil Still a Problem for Chinese
Consumers video Gutter oil video
Pictures of and story about Gutter oil New York times China food safety section