Source: APKinform (Ukraine)
Two major Chinese companies – Sinograin and Hopefull Grain and Oil Group – have been at the center of a high-profile scandal for allegedly transporting cooking oil in the same tankers as fuel without following proper cleaning procedures, NV reports, citing information from CNN.
According to the Chinese newspaper Beijing News, tankers carrying fuel and liquid chemicals were also used to transport liquid foodstuffs: Cooking oil, syrup and soybean oil. And it is unclear how long this has been going on.
This news caused such a huge public outcry in China that the state had to intervene. The food safety authority announced the establishment of an inter-departmental team to deal with the situation. Those responsible “will be severely punished in accordance with the law”, the authority said in a statement.
China’s food safety laws prohibit the storage or transportation of food together with toxic or harmful items. Bringing toxic and harmful inedible commodities together is a criminal offense punishable by long prison sentences and even the death penalty in the case of fatal poisoning of people.
Sinograin said it had launched an internal investigation and promised to stop working with transporters who violate safety regulations. The Hopefull Grain and Oil Group also promised to investigate the matter.