China's State Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency circular which says that waste oils shall be strictly banned in the food and beverage industry and food service providers that purchase and use waste oils will have their business license revoked.
SFDA requires all its affiliates to conduct inspections of the purchase and use of edible oil by food service providers. It asks the affiliates to attach great importance to the complaints of consumers, verify consumer complaints in a timely manner and punish those food service providers who are found using oil from a suspect source.
In addition, the circular says that local food and drug departments at all levels should launch a special check on the use of disposable chopsticks, and order food service providers to stop using and destroy any chopsticks that could represent a possible safety hazard.
On March 15, World Consumer Rights Day, China Central Television exposed examples of low quality production processes for disposable chopsticks and showing that some disposable chopsticks have become a major threat to consumer health.
