China arrests 32 over huge used cooking oil scam

Sep 13, 2011, 12:39 GMT

Beijing - Chinese police on Tuesday said they had arrested 32 suspected members of a criminal gang involved in reselling more than 100 tons of used cooking oil that was recovered after restaurants discarded it.

The gang, which operated in 14 provinces, even recovered some of the 'gutter oil' from gutters outside restaurants, the Ministry of Public Security reported on its website.

Police arrested the 32 suspects in July after officers in the eastern and central provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong and Henan raided six sites where the oil was illegally recycled.

They began investigating in March after residents of Zhejiang's Ninghai county reported that a group of people were buying waste oil from local restaurants, the ministry said.

State media have reported dozens of food scandals in recent years, prompting the government to introduce a tougher food safety law in 2009.

Recent reports said vendors in Shanghai sold white sesame seeds that were dyed to pass them off as more expensive black seeds.

In March, police detained dozens of people in Henan province, including several officials, after finding the carinogenic chemical clenbuterol added to pig feed to produce leaner pork.

In one of the biggest scandals to hit China's food industry, at least six infants died and up to 300,000 were sickened in 2008 by the industrial chemical melamine, which was added to milk powder to raise its protein content.

Chinese courts tried at least 21 people accused of involvement in the 2008 milk powder scandal, executing two of them in November 2009.