In addition to flavor, Chinese food is known to be cooked in lots of oil, as meat and vegetables are fried very quickly an excellent and delicious technique that locks in moisture and flavor. It’s no wonder China ranks second in global oil consumption with 13.2% of its share.
With this, an illegal and dangerous market has emerged, created by opportunists and food vendors engaged in the extraction, processing and use of socalled food in their kitchens “Gutter oil” or sewage oila product derived from yellow fat, which is used cooking oil recovered by corporations and industries for making soap, feeding livestock, making makeup, clothing, rubber, and cleaning products.
But instead of recycling this waste, many, particularly in street shops, use this oil to cook food.
the underground industry
(Source: Bloomberg/Reproduction)
The US industry produces around 0.6 billion pounds of fat, with the global market valued at $5.50 billion in 2017, at an estimated 6% compound annual growth rate, reaching $8.48 billion by 2019 dollars will reach.
There is a huge industry that collects and produces yellow fat to make cooking oil. The industry is dominated by a number of large corporations as well as entrepreneurs and small businesses that collect and sell the product. Right in the middle there are sewage oil traders, the unrefined waste of all the oil produced in restaurants and large corporations.
The reason for this is easy money, intensive trade and buying and selling power, as China is dominated by street food prepared by lowincome people whose business is their only livelihood. Despite government intervention and the criminalization of this practice, the underground oil production industry continues to operate, so it is possible that you may ingest sewage oil when visiting these street vendors.
(Source: YouTube/Playback)
It is estimated that the first documented case of drain oil trading in mainland China occurred in the mid2000s, when a street vendor was arrested for selling oil he extracted from a landfill at a restaurant.
In 2011 alone, it was estimated that about a tenth of the oil used by restaurants in China was sewage oil, since the illegal product has no difference in appearance and indicators after illegal refining and purification, as perpetrators are proficient in handling established standards are . In all cases, the oil was recycled and was unfit for human consumption to any extent.
the arduous struggle
(Source: SAYS/Reproduction)
Thus, the removal of used oil from sewers, grease traps and slaughterhouse waste for reprocessing and subsequent marketing became a widespread practice. But the disgust of mixing this oil into food isn’t just limited to that: it’s also considered extremely unhealthy, as it contains carcinogens and other toxins.
In some samples collected for the study, gutter oil had traces of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are dangerous organic pollutants that can cause cancer if consumed for a long time; and aflatoxins, powerful carcinogenic compounds produced by certain species of fungi. Once contaminated, the remaining oil becomes rancid, oxidized, and decomposed, which can lead to indigestion, insomnia, liver problems, and even death from poisoning.
Due to rumors that restaurants could use this oil, several customers began bringing their own oil from home and requesting that their dishes be prepared with it.
China has been fighting the practice for years, even arresting a man for selling sewage oil in Jiangsu province earlier this April. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. But in a country where the product is becoming increasingly expensive, it will take time before authorities can effectively crack down on the practice and offenders are discouraged.