Cooking oil is a very common product, and the use of reusable materials is becomingly popular.  But what if you put these two together?

You get ‘gutter oil’.

By processing anything collected from drains, gutters, and sewers, businesses inChinahave become very profitable from the sales of this recycled waste oil.  It now makes up for one-tenth of the cooking oil inChina.  Hidden behind counterfeit labels and containers, the product is sold to restaurants, supermarkets, and street-side food vendors, then in turn to oblivious consumers.

This is appalling.  People could be poisoned; they may get cancer or even die – just by consuming food!

Though health effects have not yet surfaced, their complete disregard for the public is highly unethical.  This is not a first in China; only three years ago did melamine-milk products cause the death and illness of over 300,000 infants.  Will they ever realize the consequence of their actions before it becomes a public issue?

I truly question the deeper morale of Chinese businesses – is profit the only objective?

Generating profit is a vital part of doing business, but to do so at the expense of people’s lives is utterly irresponsible.  The absence of government regulation is also astounding.  How far will this go before it is stopped?  Do they even feel guilty, or are they too focused on the monetary benefits to be shameful of their impacts?

References:
–BBC: Mass arrests in China illegal ‘gutter oil’ police sting
–The Epoch Times: ‘Gutter oil’ Sold to China’s Restaurants, Supermarkets