Tainted syrups, cooking oils stir up global food safety scandal

The latest Chinese food scandal may have implications for the U.S. food industry. State-owned Beijing News reported that tankers were routinely not cleaned between transportation of fluid foods and potentially harmful chemicals. 

“It is an open secret in the tanker transportation industry,” a driver told one reporter.

According to the July 2 article, edible liquids such as soybean oil and syrups are often transported in cargo tankers that also transport coal-based liquids. To save costs, many tankers are not cleaned before reloading. Manufacturers’ controls are lacking.

An "independent" investigation

The news implicated the state-owned company, Sinograin, and the privately held company, Hopefull Grain and Oil Group. As cooking oil was removed from store shelves, the Chinese government announced an investigation by a joint team of public security, transport, market regulation and other authorities.

At about the same time, an app that allowed tracking of trucks across China was disabled, The Guardian reported.

Although the media and government’s focus is on edible oils, other bulk food liquids may be subject to the same safety concerns. China supplies a wide variety of syrups to the U.S., including honey and liquid stevia. A quick search on importgenius.com revealed that 2,685,894 pounds of the following liquids were imported in 2023: allulose, isomalto-oligosaccharide (tapioca) syrup, organic resistant dextrin syrup and sucralose liquid concentrate.

Issues with UCO

Used cooking oil (UCO) is also a concern. The U.S. imported over 3 billion pounds of UCO in 2023 — a stark increase since 2020, when less than 200 million pounds of UCO was imported. More than half of today’s imports come from China. In May, Bloomberg reported those imports have weakened demand for U.S. soybean oil.

On June 20, six senators representing farm groups published a letter questioning the increased imports of UCO. Republicans Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst, Roger Marshall, Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts, along with Democrat Sherrod Brown, voiced their concerns about the integrity of imported goods to representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Trade.

UCO is primarily used in the manufacture of biofuels, but it is also used in animal supplements. Baker Commodities, Inc., describes feeding fats as stock ingredients made from blends of recycled UCO and animal fats. While American restaurants and food manufacturers generate large quantities of UCO, it’s worth noting that animal feed companies may buy imported product, although Austin Therrell, executive director of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), believes it’s unlikely.

“The risk of potential adulteration for any ingredient is never zero,” he said, “but consumers can continue to trust the safety of the products that they feed their animals here in the U.S. because of the regulatory requirements that are in place and the state programs that go above and beyond to enforce them. The AAFCO defines used cooking oil very specifically and has strict quality standards within the definition. Much of the imported cooking oil that comes to the U.S. has a profile that makes it more likely to be used for biofuel production rather than animal feed due to these quality standards. The animal food industry as a whole is subject to the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), and most AAFCO member states have robust sampling programs in place to proactively look for potential contaminants or hazards.”

Test and verify

Given the potential for food products and petroleum products to be transported in the same vessel, James Beix, senior project manager for J.S. Held, a risk mitigation firm with technical and scientific expertise, suggested that organic contamination testing with a food safety laboratory would be an appropriate next step. He stressed the importance of using an accredited laboratory to ensure that the lab is using industry best practices, its staff is properly trained and it complies with international standards.

“When working with a food safety laboratory, it is important to relay as much information as possible regarding your product and the potential contaminant(s) of concern and allow the laboratory to provide input for the best possible tests to run,” he said. “The only thing worse than no testing is having the wrong testing performed, which could provide inaccurate or misleading results.”

Beix reminds us, “this situation is a reminder that a robust foreign supplier vendor verification program is an essential first line of defense for food manufacturers. According to the FDA, foreign supplier verification programs are designed to verify that foreign suppliers are producing food in a manner equivalent to the FDA’s preventative controls and safety regulations. If you have concerns about this situation, it is wholly appropriate to open an investigation and evaluate the food risk and supplier’s performance. These evaluations should be done with internal staff or a third party rather than the foreign supplier.”

Food safety scandals are a recurring theme in China. According to Nikkei Asia, in 2005, 2011 and 2015 cooking oil was also reported to have been shipped in vehicles that had shipped other products. Gutter oil, brought to the public’s attention in the early 2000s, is cooking oil recycled from household drains and grease traps that may also include used cooking oil from restaurants along with animal fat. Besides being sold to hole-in-the-wall restaurants and workplace canteens, it was distributed to school cafeterias. In 2008, baby formula that was tainted with chemical melamine sickened more than 300,000 children and resulted in six deaths.