The top food safety watchdog in Southwest China's Yunnan province said in a statement that Yunnan Fengrui Oil and Fat had been ordered to cease production of its edible oil products due to suspicions that the products contain industrial fatty oils.
The company is suspected of producing three types of cooking oil with animal fat that is only supposed to be used for industrial purposes. The Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision ordered the company to recall all products sold in the province.
Following investigations into thousands of food markets and restaurants by local food safety authorities, the regulator has ordered the recall of more than 130 tons of the inferior oil.
It has also ordered the company to set up offices across the province to handle the recall and compensate customers and clients for the cost of the recalled products.
A struggling standard of oil…
Chinese law stipulates that industrial animal fat is banned from use in food products because it does not meet hygiene standards for cooking oil and contains high levels of chemicals.
China’s edible oil sector has experienced increasing cases of contamination. In April, a vast, gangled network of illegal cooking oil producers was cracked by Chinese authorities following a five month investigation, with more than 3,200 tonnes of rottenanimal waste oil seized.
The crackdown was part of a large campaign to clear up the oil producing sector following ‘gutter oil’ revelations in September last year when authorities arrested 32 people involved in an illegal ring making and distributing discarded cooking oil recovered from drains and gutters.
The Ministry of Public Security said police had seized more than 100 tonnes of the’ used cooking oil dredged from drains and gutters near to restaurants, that was later treated and resold to unsuspecting businesses and consumers.