Advertisement

Chinese restaurant staff jailed for cooking with ‘gutter oil’

Reading Time:1 minute
Why you can trust SCMP
More than 10 people working at the eateries in Wenzhou in Zhejiang province were given sentences ranging from eight months to just over 2½ years. Photo: Handout
Stephen Chenin Beijing

Owners and staff members at three restaurants in eastern China have been jailed for using waste cooking oil to make hotpot, according to a news website.

Advertisement

More than 10 people working at the eateries in Wenzhou in Zhejiang province were given sentences ranging from eight months to just over 2½ years, 66wz.com reported.

The restaurant owners were given the stiffest jail terms, according to the article.

The group was arrested last year in a government’s food safety campaign. Some suspects were caught by police fetching waste oil, also known as “gutter oil”, from backstreet drainage near the restaurants.

Advertisement

They reprocessed the waste oil at small workshops in remote suburbs and sold it back to the restaurants for a low price.

Advertisement