One of the many joys of travel within China is its eating opportunities, available in ornate banquet halls and provided by street vendors all over the cities. Well, perhaps that was one of the perks. It turns out that as many as 1 in 10 meals in China is cooked with reused cooking oil. Perhaps “reused” is the polite term—oil collectors have become notorious for salvaging cooking oil from restaurant drains or even glean it from sewers, and then recycle it into cooking oil.
The shock over contaminated food from China, which have given cable TV commentators in the US like Lou Dobbs plenty to screech about, caused not only consternation with China’s trading partners, but within this nation of 1.3 billion hungry people. Tainted milk, high melamine content in food products, contaminated vegetable protein, dumplings laced with chemicals, and beans with a side of isocarbophos have upset the Chinese as well. But in a country where fried bread (you tiao) is a cheap and popular breakfast food on the way to the office or factory, cooking oil from sewers has pushed many Chinese, albeit wealthier ones, to buy organic.
The Chinese have surpassed the Japanese in the consumption of organic food. Estimates suggest that the organic food market in China is worth US$1.5 billion, quadrupling from five years ago. The market is still young, and
measuring what is “organic” in China is difficult, even untrustworthy, as laws on organic food in China are relatively lax. Even if Chinese farmers who go organic strictly follow such regulations, that does not mean pesticides or other toxins that seep from neighboring farms or towns cannot creep onto one’s property.
One farm trying to make a difference is Lejen Chen’s
Green Cow. Concerned with the quality and safety of food in Beijing, Chen launched a farm three years ago and has even started a community supported agriculture (CSA) project for some local families and expats. On the six hectare property, fruit trees, grains, soy, and vegetables grow on land while a few cows, hens, and even 6 hives of bees roam about.
The push for improving the quality and safety of food in China, however, has a long road ahead. As the country has become more urban, farmers dump far more fertilizers and pesticides than necessary in order to boost crop yields. Organic food is still far too expensive an option for most Chinese families.
As for the oil collectors who are extracting cooking oil from dubious locations, the Chinese government promises to end the practice. Currently no laws are on the books, so no penalties exist; and when a barrel of recycled oil is priced at only about US$44, plenty of restaurant owners and street vendors will go for the cheap option unless they are caught in the act and must cough up huge fines that would discourage the practice.
I have to say, all those neighborhood donuts shops sound a lot less appealing now.
This article is also on TriplePundit.com.
