The Chinese government said it would start a food-safety investigation after public outrage followed a news report that a tanker truck carried liquefied coal and was then immediately used to transport cooking oil.
Last week, The Beijing News, which has a reputation as one of mainland China’s boldest newspapers, reported that it had witnessed a tanker truck previously used to transport industrial coal oil being loaded with soybean oil. The tanker was not sterilized between the loads, according to the newspaper, which said the episode took place in late May in Yanjiao, in Hebei, near Beijing.
Several truckers interviewed for the piece said that often tankers were not cleaned before being loaded with cooking oil, sugar or other substances to be taken to wholesalers and other businesses. Cleaning a tanker takes several hours and costs at least $40.
In the past two decades, China has repeatedly dealt with food safety concerns, including infant formula laced with melamine and cooking oil being recycled for continued use, a practice commonly known as using “gutter oil.”
In a statement published Wednesday, the Chinese State Council Commission on Food Safety said that the authorities would investigate the newspaper’s report. “Illegal enterprises and relevant responsible persons will be severely punished in accordance with the law,” it said, adding that it would also study the safety risks in the cooking oil.
A commentary in The People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, in a commentary on Monday on its official WeChat account, said that food safety was of “paramount importance.” It continued: “We must consistently adhere to the strictest standards, the strictest supervision, the harshest penalties, and the most serious accountability, without any slackening or complacency at any time.”
China has tried to enforce rigorous food testing over the last two decades to reassure the public.
“This scandal actually destroys some of the confidence of the consumer because there are still some companies that do not follow the rules or do not really care about food safety or quality,” said Terence Lau, the founder and chairman of the Food Safety Consortium, a nonprofit agency in Hong Kong. “So I think it will make an impact on the food industry, even though a lot of companies have been doing very well in the past 20 years.”
The recent allegation of a food product being mixed with industrial substances has roiled social media, with some commenters raising health concerns. Some hashtags discussing the scandal appear to have been censored.
Laura Tang, a 32-year-old insurance manager in Shanghai, said that after the report she has been avoiding oil brands made by China Grain Reserves Corporation, one of the state enterprises that had received deliveries from the tanker tracked by The Beijing News.
“It bothers me to think that the oils we eat might not be safe,” she said in a phone interview. “Food safety is the most basic necessity for people’s livelihood. What I only hope is the investigation results will come to light as soon as possible.”
The Beijing News report did not say where the shipment of potentially contaminated soybean oil ended up. Caixin News, another Chinese news outlet, reported that tank-cleaning companies had seen reduced business in the last few years, as shipping companies tried to cut costs.
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