China rocked by cooking oil contamination scandal

The Chinese government has said it is launching an investigation into allegations that fuel tankers have been used to transport cooking oil after carrying toxic chemicals without being cleaned properly between loads.

The controversy has spread online as social media users express concerns about potential food contamination.

Tankers used for transporting fuel were found to be carrying food products, like cooking oil and syrup, and were not decontaminated correctly, according to state-run Beijing News.

Transporting cooking oil in contaminated fuel trucks was said to have been so widespread it was considered an “open secret” in the industry, according to one driver quoted by the newspaper.

The controversy has become one the top trending topics on Chinese social media in recent days.

On Weibo – the country’s equivalent to X, formerly known as Twitter – there have been tens of thousands of posts about the scandal, which have racked up millions of views.

“Food safety is the most important issue,” a comment liked more than 8,000 times said.

Another comment said: “As an ordinary person, surviving in this world itself is an amazing thing already.”

Many compared it to the 2008 Sanlu milk scandal, in which some 300,000 children became sick and at least six died after drinking powdered milk contaminated with high levels of the industrial chemical melamine.

“This is much worse than the Sanlu scandal, it can’t be settled with just statement,” a user commented.