One man was sentenced to life imprisonment and more than a dozen others for 15 years by the Chinese court in Shanghai for producing and making money from cooking oil made from gutter waste. People are now doubting how clean their foods are.
The court found the defendants guilty of making and trafficking in the "poisonous, harmful" oil between January 2011 and March 2012, posted on Intermediate People's Court's website (www.lygfy.gov.cn).
Known in China as "gutter oil", this product was a waste oil and "meat-product waste" combined. It was sold to processors mostly to 4 provinces including the country's capital, Beijing. In both 2011 and 2012, 60 million yuan was raked by Wang's company, Kangrun, just by selling the oil.
A few weeks ago, China was on the front page when Chinese police seized more than 20,000kg of fake beefs. Then there was the phoney eggs... and then the poison milk powder.
China is not just making waves in the news reported everyday by world leading papers because of its growing economy and the way the government hones the country's military. But more so, the scandals that fuel public mistrust.
