Leading food company denies using gutter oil

(ECNS) – Yihai Kerry, a leading agribusiness and food company headquartered in Singapore, has denied media reports that the company recycled gutter oil into edible cooking oil.

People's Daily reported that gutter oil was transported to Yihai Kerry's Tianjin factory, which manufactures edible oil. The report also said that part of the oil was resold to instant noodle giants such as Master Kong, Uni-President and Jinmailang.

Yihai Kerry's Jinlongyu cooking oil has 45 percent of market share.

According to the report, gutter oil was transported to a small city in Hebei province, and then to a big factory in Tianjin. The big factory was confirmed as Yihai Kerry's.

In a response on Thursday, Yihai Kerry rebutted the media coverage, saying the gutter oil wasn't transported to Yihai Kerry Foodstuffs Industries (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., but to Kerry Oleochemical Industrial (Tianjin) Co. Ltd.

The latter uses industrial oils and waste cooking oil to produce oleochemicals such as octadecoic acid.

Yihai Kerry says the dirty oil goes entirely to industrial production, and is absolutely not involved in making edible oil.