Local media reported data from online retailer JD.com that searches for hydraulic presses jumped 22 times and sales increased fourfold between July 5 and July 12, compared to before the scandal broke.
“I haven’t even opened it yet, should I eat it or not?” asked a video of a bottle of cooking oil posted on social media platform Xiaohongshu, expressing the anxiety of local residents. “It would be a shame to throw it away, but I’m scared that if I eat it I’ll end up going to the hospital and running out of money,” added a user from China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Certain hashtags discussing the scandal also appear to be censored on some platforms.
Chinese authorities have launched an investigation into food safety concerns after domestic media revealed that Sinograin, a major state-owned company, had been using fuel-laden tankers to transport edible oil.
The containers were not cleaned between loads, according to the Communist Party-affiliated Beijing News, which also named private conglomerate Hopeful Grain and Oil Group as the culprit.
Other truck drivers interviewed for the report noted that to cut costs, China often does not wash these tankers before transporting edible liquids such as cooking oil, soybean oil and syrup. Some edible oil manufacturers also do not strictly check or enforce whether the tanks are clean, according to Beijing News.
One tanker driver was quoted as saying it was an “open secret” in the tanker transport industry that food and chemical liquids are mixed together without being sterilised or cleaned.
“What that means is [the] “Chinese people will be afraid to eat out. They don’t want to eat in restaurants,” said Sean Lane, founder of the China Market Research Group, who predicted Chinese consumers will also buy more imported oil, comparing it to the knock-on effects of the 2008 melamine scandal.
In 2008, China was rocked by its worst food safety scandal when milk was mixed with melamine, a chemical used in plastics, poisoning 300,000 children and killing six.
“The Chinese are starting to go to Australia, [going] “Fewer people are going to Europe to buy baby formula, and I think the same thing will happen with cooking oils. Be wary of ‘Made in China’ foods,” Lyne told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
The Times Finance newspaper also reported on a surge in oil press sales, with locals saying they plan to travel to Hong Kong to buy cooking oil and other condiments and cook more as they don’t know what’s going on with the oil in their takeaway food.
Chinese authorities have promised to take tough measures against those responsible: “Illegal enterprises and related responsible parties will be severely punished in accordance with the law and will not be tolerated,” said the Food Safety Commission of the State Council.
