Yuck! Dozens held after 'gutter oil' sold for cooking

BEIJING?? Chinese authorities detained 32 people for making and selling tons of cooking oil dredged from gutters, the ministry of public security said Tuesday, in the latest food safety scandal to hit the country.

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Police confiscated more than 100 tons of the "gutter oil" ? used cooking oil fished from drains behind restaurants ? in a crackdown on a criminal network that operated in 14 provinces, the ministry said on its website.

"This case, through a difficult process of investigation ... not only struck down a criminal chain of gutter oil producers, but also uncovered hidden details of the offenders' greedy and unconscionable production of poisonous and harmful cooking oil," the statement said.

The ministry said six workshops were closed, including one operated by Jinan Green Bio Oil Co., a business that claimed to be turning kitchen oil into fuel but that was actually churning out recycled cooking oil that it passed off as new.

Deadly mold
Recycled oil can contain carcinogens and traces of aflatoxin, a potentially deadly mold.

Last year, the State Council, China's Cabinet, said businesses that use recycled oil would be forced to close temporarily or lose their business license and that peddlers who sell the oil could be criminally prosecuted.

Story: China to offer rewards for food safety informers

There have been scandals with cooking oil safety in China in recent years, and pictures of oil being scooped up from drains have circulated widely online.

The suspects were detained as part of an investigation that began in March in China's rich eastern province of Zhejiang, the ministry's statement said, further pledging to eliminate China's "gutter oil" market.

Story: Tainted vinegar suspected in 11 deaths in China

China has struggled to rein in the health safety violations in the unruly and vast food sector despite tough punishments and repeated vows to crackdown on the problem.

Since July, Chinese courts have sentenced at least a dozen people to jail, including one person who received a suspended death sentence, for their roles in producing or selling pork tainted with toxic chemicals.

In 2008, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 fell ill from drinking milk laced with melamine powder, an industrial compound added to milk to give misleadingly high results in protein tests.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44497373/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

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