JAISWAL
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2010
- Messages
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Our kitchens must be freed from gutter oil
.
.
Our kitchens must be
freed from gutter oil
.
.
.
BEIJING, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) – In a nationwide
crackdown by the Ministry of Public Security, 32
suspects were arrested for making and selling
illegal cooking oil.
This gutter oil, made from restaurant leftovers
and collected from sewers, is widely present
across the market. Some estimates put the
annual figure of such oil at 2.25 mln tons. To put
it another way, there is a chance you will eat
gutter oil once in every 10 times you eat out in
China. Among the food safety scandals plaguing
China, illegal cooking oil probably affects the
largest number of consumers.
The massive illegal cooking oil ring, reportedly
expanding across 14 provinces, suggests the
huge demand and profitability of the business.
Stricter supervision and harsher penalties are
necessary to deter would-be violators but are the
measures enough to block all the loopholes?
To begin with Chinese dishes consume more
cooking oil than other cuisines, especially fried
and stir-fried dishes. Fish fillets in hot chili oil, an
extremely popular Sichuan dish, use a whole
basin of cooking oil per serving. Deep-fried
dough sticks, a favorite breakfast choice across
China, is made in a huge wok full of repeatedly
used cooking oil.
Meanwhile, Chinese food is also known for its
cheapness and eating out is an affordable option
for most people. Many Chinese consumers are
price-sensitive, resulting in a plethora of cheap
restaurants. The dual demand for taste and price
have helped create huge room for illegal cooking
oil.
Unless there is a revolutionary change to the
Chinese cooking style, it will be a lasting challenge
to the supervisory departments to eradicate illegal
cooking oil.
While stronger supervision is crucial to reducing
the use of gutter oil, effective supervision requires
manpower and administrative costs. With that in
mind, reducing the profit margin of the gutter oil
industry may be another solution.
Gutter oil should be destined for industrial use,
not restaurants. But businessmen will make a
rational choice between the cost of violating the
law and the potential for profit. Business ethics
will not be automatically applied to them, at least
not at this early stage of development.
In this sense, adjusting the price of recycled oil
for industrial use can reduce the allure of trading
gutter oil to restaurants, if not wipe the trade out
completely.
.
.
Our kitchens must be
freed from gutter oil
.
.
.
BEIJING, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) – In a nationwide
crackdown by the Ministry of Public Security, 32
suspects were arrested for making and selling
illegal cooking oil.
This gutter oil, made from restaurant leftovers
and collected from sewers, is widely present
across the market. Some estimates put the
annual figure of such oil at 2.25 mln tons. To put
it another way, there is a chance you will eat
gutter oil once in every 10 times you eat out in
China. Among the food safety scandals plaguing
China, illegal cooking oil probably affects the
largest number of consumers.
The massive illegal cooking oil ring, reportedly
expanding across 14 provinces, suggests the
huge demand and profitability of the business.
Stricter supervision and harsher penalties are
necessary to deter would-be violators but are the
measures enough to block all the loopholes?
To begin with Chinese dishes consume more
cooking oil than other cuisines, especially fried
and stir-fried dishes. Fish fillets in hot chili oil, an
extremely popular Sichuan dish, use a whole
basin of cooking oil per serving. Deep-fried
dough sticks, a favorite breakfast choice across
China, is made in a huge wok full of repeatedly
used cooking oil.
Meanwhile, Chinese food is also known for its
cheapness and eating out is an affordable option
for most people. Many Chinese consumers are
price-sensitive, resulting in a plethora of cheap
restaurants. The dual demand for taste and price
have helped create huge room for illegal cooking
oil.
Unless there is a revolutionary change to the
Chinese cooking style, it will be a lasting challenge
to the supervisory departments to eradicate illegal
cooking oil.
While stronger supervision is crucial to reducing
the use of gutter oil, effective supervision requires
manpower and administrative costs. With that in
mind, reducing the profit margin of the gutter oil
industry may be another solution.
Gutter oil should be destined for industrial use,
not restaurants. But businessmen will make a
rational choice between the cost of violating the
law and the potential for profit. Business ethics
will not be automatically applied to them, at least
not at this early stage of development.
In this sense, adjusting the price of recycled oil
for industrial use can reduce the allure of trading
gutter oil to restaurants, if not wipe the trade out
completely.
