With the frequent exposure of gutter oil incidents, people are paying more and more attention to it. Recently, due to the exposure of a gutter oil incident by a tour guide (the authenticity is yet to be confirmed), the attention to gutter oil has once again escalated. So what exactly is gutter oil as reported in the news?
What is Gutter Oil?
Gutter oil, commonly known as "ditch oil," is a type of oil that is of poor sanitary quality, extremely low quality, and contains a high amount of toxins. It has a "delicious" taste. Once consumed, it can cause damage to the digestive tract mucosa and white blood cells, leading to nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in milder cases, and cancer or other diseases in more severe cases.
Classification of Gutter Oil
Gutter oil can be divided into three categories: firstly, narrow-sense gutter oil, which refers to the oil extracted by simple processing and refining of the greasy floating substances in the sewer or the leftovers from hotels and restaurants (commonly known as swill); secondly, oil produced from processing and refining inferior pork, pork offal, and pigskin; thirdly, oil used for frying food that has been reused after exceeding a certain number of times or adding some new oil to it.
How is Gutter Oil Produced?
Gutter oil mainly comes from three sources: kitchen waste oil (such as oil used by KFC and McDonald's for deep frying, as well as oil refluxed from the fume hood), oil from sewer swill, and animal oil from slaughterhouses.
Unauthorized workshops steam and cook these oils, remove impurities, settle, and extract the oil. The sediment is then obtained by squeezing and filtering, resulting in the oil.
The Dangers of Gutter Oil
During the refining process of "gutter oil," a series of chemical changes occur in contaminated animal and vegetable oils, such as acidification, oxidation, and decomposition, producing highly toxic substances for the human body. Arsenic is one of them. Once a large amount of "gutter oil" containing arsenic is consumed, it can cause symptoms such as indigestion, headaches, dizziness, insomnia, fatigue, and discomfort in the liver area. Gutter oil contains aflatoxin and benzo[a]pyrene, both of which are carcinogens and can cause stomach cancer, colorectal cancer, kidney cancer, as well as cancers in the breasts, ovaries, and small intestines.
How to Identify Gutter Oil
First, look: observe the transparency of the oil. Gutter oil's transparency decreases due to the presence of alkaline fats, waxes, impurities, and sediment. Additionally, gutter oil will have an obvious color due to the solubility of pigments during production.
Second, smell: normal oil has a certain fragrance, but gutter oil may have a different odor or even a foul smell.
Third, taste: dip a chopstick into the oil and taste it. If it has a sour taste, the oil is not qualified. If it has a bitter taste, the oil is rancid. If it has an unusual taste, it is gutter oil.
Fourth, listen: drip a few drops of oil on paper and ignite it. If there is no sound, the oil is qualified. If it makes a "sizzling" sound, it means the moisture content exceeds the standard. If it makes a "crackling" explosion sound, it is inferior oil or even gutter oil.
Fifth, check: carefully examine the production address and phone number on the packaging, and make a call to inquire about the product's address and related information.
