China is drafting national standards for transporting cooking oil in the aftermath of a scandal that shook the nation.
Last week, food safety regulators said that following an investigation, two drivers were arrested and three companies penalised for using unclean fuel tanks to transport cooking oil, a practice that had been reported on by news outlets. The regulators said that aside from this case, they “did not find any similar problems”.
The new rules, proposed by the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration on Tuesday, are open for public feedback until Sunday.
China is a major consumer of vegetable oil and has a great need for oil transport, according to the draft. In 2023, the entire country consumed a total of 39 million tonnes of oil. In the wake of the scandal, the State Council, China’s cabinet, has asked for timely industry regulations, it said.
The draft states that specific containers must be used for transporting cooking oil, and non-edible oil cans should not be used. The quality of the cans should meet the standards set by China’s food safety laws. Furthermore, transport records must be checked, and the cans need to be cleaned periodically with specific types of detergent and water.
The draft did not contain clauses stipulating the consequences if parties fail to meet the requirements.
Food safety regulators launched the investigation shortly after The Beijing News published a report in July claiming it was an “open secret” in the transport industry that tanker trucks were used to carry cooking oil and chemicals – without being cleaned between loads.
The reporter staked out in front of cooking oil factories and saw two trucks working for different transport companies entering and exiting.
In the report, regulators said the first truck was carrying 35.91 tonnes of cooking oil, 11 tonnes of which was used to make animal feed. The rest had not been sold and had since been sealed to prevent further use, they said.
The second truck was carrying 31.86 tonnes, of which 29.38 tonnes had been packaged and sold, mainly to the city of Ordos in northwest China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Some 7.78 tonnes that had been sold but not yet used was recalled and sealed, according to the regulators.
Authorities appear to have closed the investigation. Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said in a commentary on Sunday that the punishments showed China’s “zero-tolerance attitude to food safety issues and a people-first stance”.
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China launches high-level probe after paper says fuel tankers used to carry cooking oil
China launches high-level probe after paper says fuel tankers used to carry cooking oil
But many members of the public were sceptical and dissatisfied with the results, pointing out there were still unanswered questions.
In a now-censored WeChat article, news commentator Xiang Dongliang asked: “How is it that the reporter accurately found the only two tanker trucks that were mixing up the oils?”
Xiang noted that there were over 180,000 vehicles on the road, but the investigations only found two involved in misconduct.
Social media users also questioned why a truck-tracking app went offline last month after user numbers surged shortly after news reports exposed the cooking oil scandal.
A string of food safety scandals has shaken the Chinese public’s confidence. In one of the most infamous incidents, some 300,000 children were poisoned in 2008 after Chinese suppliers added melamine, a chemical used to make plastic, to their powdered milk to artificially boost protein levels. The government launched an investigation and sentenced to death those responsible for the contamination and cover-up.
