Gutter oil

Collected food waste, sometimes used for the production of gutter oil

Gutter oil, trench oil, sewer oil and tainted oil (Chinese: 地沟油 / 地溝油; pinyin: dìgōu yóu, or 餿水油; sōushuǐ yóu) are Chinese slang terms primarily used in China and Taiwan to refer to recycled oil.

It can be used to describe the illicit practice of restaurants reusing cooking oil that has already been cooked for longer than safety codes permit. It can also be used to describe the reprocessing of rancid yellow grease collected from sources such as restaurant fryers, kitchen, slaughterhouse waste and sewer drains.[1][2]

Since 2011, the Chinese government has significantly cracked down on the reuse of gutter oil for human consumption,[3] with the Chinese government also implementing clearer regulations for dealing with waste oil.[4] Selling gutter oil in China can result in lengthy prison sentences or the death sentence with reprieve. For example, in 2014, businessman Zhu Chuanfeng was sentenced to the latter for selling gutter oil.[5] That same year, a major gutter oil scandal was uncovered in Taiwan.[6] In 2015, Yeh Wen-hsiang, who was the chairman of a Taiwanese food company, was sentenced to 22 years imprisonment and fined the equivalent of $1.6 million for selling 243 tonnes of gutter oil.[7][8]

  1. ^ Alexa Olesen "Gutter Oil: China Sounds Alarm Over Filthy Cooking Oil" Archived 5 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine. 20 July 2010
  2. ^ Max Fisher "You may never eat street food in China again after watching this video" Archived 1 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine. 28 October 2013
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Li, Jia; Cui, Naixue; Liu, Jianghong (September 2017). "Gutter oil: an overview of Chinese food safety issues and policies". Global Health Promotion. 24 (3): 75–78. doi:10.1177/1757975915623733. ISSN 1757-9759. PMC 10117420. PMID 27056431.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ The Editorial Board (18 September 2014). "Opinion | Taiwan's 'Gutter Oil' Scandal". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Taiwan food company boss jailed for 20 years over 'gutter oil' scandal". South China Morning Post. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  8. ^ Weak, Matthew Sexpat (13 September 2017). "Gutter oil scandal executive sentenced to 22 years in prison | Taiwan News | 2017-09-13 16:50:04". Taiwan News. Retrieved 1 March 2023.