Is "gutter oil" a problem in any other country besides China?

Is "gutter oil" a problem in any other country besides China? - From above chalkboard with THERE COMES A TIME WHEN SILENCE IS BETRAYAL inscription on black background

China has a known problem with "counterfeit" cooking oil made illegally by gangs. Not just inferior cooking oil relabelled as well-regarded brands, but made from waste oil and rotting animal parts.

This is generally known as "gutter oil" (Chinese pinyin dìgōu yóu, simplified characters 地沟油, traditional characters 地溝油).

Gutter oil can contain bleaches and chemicals to alter its colour and pH level to more closely resemble cooking oil. These include known carcinogens.

People caught running such rackets have recently received very harsh prison sentences but a reliable method for detecting gutter oil had not been found last I checked.

I'm quite a foodie when I travel but I'm still on a low budget so I eat where the local people eat. Cheap restaurants, stalls, and especially street food.

There's always some risk when you choose to eat street food. But generally you expect just low hygiene standards. I certainly did not expect to be eating food adulterated with cancer-causing ingredients by organized gangs!

So is gutter oil also known to be a problem elsewhere in Asia, or elsewhere in the world? Or is it a strictly Chinese invention?

Do travellers have to worry about adulterated food when overseas now? This is beyond the usual expectations of food poisoning!


Just to be clear, because it seems some people have misread, this question is asking about this issue in other countries. Not about other issues in this country. I added the China tag because that's where problem is known to exist, for comparison.

Just to be clear, this is just about "gutter oil", which is a dangerous fake product tourists can consume without knowing it. It's not about other fake goods or even about re-labelled fake cooking oil. Please read the Wikipedia article on gutter oil if you are like Andrew Ferrier and think this is "irrelevant to travellers"!



Best Answer

Yes, this is a problem rampant in South/South East Asia. A quick google search shows that not only cooking oil, but shoes, motor vehicle oil and butter are commonly counterfeited.

Not only through the web but I know first hand from buddies in Pakistan, Sri Lanka India and Bangladesh that they are tired of the spurious oil/butter/foods and even sugar coated dates. There are many who carry organic ghee (clarified butter) from the US to India because though it is an Indian product, no one in India makes affordable organic ghee. Most people would carry dates from the Arab countries while traveling to Asia.

I think this is a common problem across the Asian countries in that region. Sadly even the holograms of original manufacturers are copied and stuck to containers carrying the counterfeit product. So the end user can never know during purchase if what they are buying is really what they wanted to buy.




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Is "gutter oil" a problem in any other country besides China? - Ethnic woman standing with little boy near entrance in ruined old building in countryside and looking away while holding hand of little child
Is "gutter oil" a problem in any other country besides China? - Poor indigenous cabin with thatched roof on sandy coastline with wavy ocean in cloudy day
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What countries use gutter oil?

Gutter oil has also been used outside of China as well. For example, in England, fatbergs that were dug out of sewers in cities like London and Liverpool were later reported to be processed to produce biofuel.

Does Japan use gutter oil?

Food in China is delicious, and gutter oil typically is used just in some street food stalls or cheap, hole-in-the-wall dives. But it is a reminder why authorities there are deeply concerned about food safety issues.



'Gutter oil' problem in China: 3.5 million tons of gutter oil consumed at dining tables every year




More answers regarding is "gutter oil" a problem in any other country besides China?

Answer 2

Yes, gutter oil is also a problem in Taiwan.

There's an article in Today's New York Times (September 19, 2014), Taiwan’s ‘Gutter Oil’ Scandal

Since Sept. 4, the Taiwanese authorities have been struggling to control a food scare caused by 645 tons of adulterated cooking oil produced by the Chang Guann Company and distributed to more than 1,200 restaurants, schools and food processors.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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