Poor quality control behind bad oil
December 27, 2012
The Centre for Food Safety has found that poor quality control was to blame for a consignment of cooking oil to contain excess carcinogen.
It was found to have Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) at level higher than the Mainland's limit.
The centre said today it was very likely caused by undesirable quality control during the production process. So far, there is no evidence that so-called "gutter oil" was involved.
The consignment of peanut oil was manufactured in Qingdao. Eighty barrels were imported to Hong Kong by New World Enterprise in mid-November. Among them, 16 were marked and sealed by the centre's officers during the investigation. The remaining 64 were confirmed to have been sold to nine distributors, and 19 were successfully recalled by the importer. They were returned to their place of origin. The remainder is understood to have been sold or discarded by the distributors and no remaining stocks have so far been found.
After the test results of 39 cooking oil samples were announced on December 18, another 23 samples were collected from 23 locations, including the importer and different distributors and restaurants, for testing.
One sample from the same batch of peanut oil taken from the importer was found to contain BaP at a level exceeding the Mainland's legal limit. Another sample collected from one of the distributors exceeded the European Union limit.
The centre found the batch of cooking oil in question was manufactured by the Qingdao Changsheng Group, understood to be a well-established enterprise bearing a good track record. Its products were monitored and subject to regular sampling tests by the local Entry-Exit Inspection & Quarantine Bureau, with quality certificates issued for its products. Nevertheless, the consignment of 80 barrels of cooking oil concerned was not selected for testing before export.
The company said it will ascertain the cause of the excessive BaP content to avoid recurrence. Exports to Hong Kong will be suspended until the result is known.
