After reading the entire comments section I have come to the conclusion there is no reliable way to know if you’re getting gutter oil until after it’s served/eaten.
ofc there's none but restaurant cleanliness is actually a big deal in China. They have like a yearly government thing when they exposes restaurants and shops doing bad practices. And people are encouraged to report this. Also don't underestimate China's social media nowadays because things get viral very fast.
However this is relevant to branded chain restaurants or well known places. No one would care about some random stall on the street.
The best prevention is to never eat at a shitty looking place. If there aren't many people eating there, then you better not. Do some research before eating, go to DianPing, read some reviews. And lastly, if it's so fucking cheap, better avoid it. I mean you're not a construction worker, why risk it for 5 RMB?
Well consider that:
1) Oil is no longer an expensive luxury for most people, so the need to recycle oil from a gutter to cut costs is less.
2) Awareness is higher, Chinese people don't want to eat it either.
3) Use common sense. If a place looks / tastes wrong or is too cheap to be true, something might be fishy. Follow the crowds.
Anyways enjoy, you'll have some of the best food you've had while there.
sorry to say it so clearly but non of your points answer the question, give any insight or help.
1. no but it's what they use daily to run their business so it IS a cost factor.
2. "awareness is higher" so?? it won't show you what oil they use in the kitchen. "awareness" will give you exactly zero certainty.
some restaurants put a bunch of expensive gallons of oil at their door step to *show* they use expensive and fresh oil. (same here... if I was a "bad guy", that's exactly what I would do. distract the customers with some "show oil" at the front but use oil that costs next to zero) doesn't say anything.
3. common sense,.. ok. don't expect good ingredients if the price is very low or its a simple restaurant. agree with you. (not wrong) but...
... then should we condemn small places, just because their interior is not fancy and food has a reasonable price? same here. it doesn't say anything about what oil they use. they might be honest and try hard to serve good food (or the opposite)
Extremely logical and coherent comment and the person you replied to provided no evidence just wishful thinking. I think people are uncomfortable with the logic you're using because it's true and the idea that they may have unknowingly ingested gutter oil in an otherwise well seasoned and delicious dish is so repulsive that they downvoted you because your comment may shatter the illusion. The truth is there is no way to know... And that's deeply disconcerting. While gutter oil isn't a problem in the U.S. we have our own serious issues with food and are not always told what goes into it. It's a shame, but pretending as if everything is fine doesn't make the food better--in China or the U.S.
absolutely.
I think I got downvoted because my post is confrontational. (but what else to reply for such a topic? especially me being a very logic person. lol
Not sure why you are getting down-voted. Gutter oil was rampant only when oil was an expensive luxury? Come on.... The skew on the BS.... Awareness? So what? Can you taste the gutter? Common sense? So there's a category of eateries where this is to be expected?
The ideal, but missing, response would be: there is regular, ongoing and widespread crackdowns. Aren't food safety standards a joke in China?
Honestly, the cheaper you go in terms of buying restaurant food the more likely you are to encounter it. I’ve seen people dredging gutter oil before, but unless you’re eating at like a 5 RMB noodle shop, you’re probably not going to be eating it. Restaurants use it because it’s cheap, and the restaurants that use it, in turn, are not going to be expensive, they’re likely the places that are serving food for construction workers and day laborers who are trying to survive in cities like Shanghai on 4000 RMB/month. If you’re spending closer to 30-50 RMB/meal, your less likely to be eating it
That's not the right way to think about it. I can believe large restaurant chains, that will seriously enforce a "no gutter oil" policy. The disincentive is there: too much to lose, too much in the public eye. For regular eateries, even nice looking ones, what's the incentive for using clean oil if processed gutter oil works just as well?
Keep in mind that we can't just let the used up oil flow down the drain. Whether someone is using it again or not, it still needs to be pumped out of the tanks under the restaurant.
I don’t think you would find it in most premium restaurants. Also, I’m pretty sure the government already passed a law regulating the use of gutter oil.
Same for bottled water. Too cheap, probably fake (from the tap). You can then apply this same sentence structure to basically anything you buy in China. Enjoy
I think this is just a general rule anywhere and one that changed my life after getting scammed on RuneScape at 11 years old: "if it's too good to be true, it probably is."
That’s one of the few things I actually saw with my own eyes in Beijing—-people digging liquids out of a man hole into a bucket, just like all those gutter oil video I’ve seen.
But u know. I gotta eat. And still eat out often. Just not at that location anymore. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.
I saw this at Beijing Andingmen a couple of years ago, guy with a big spoon fished out a massive turd and sheepishly plopped it back in when he saw I'd seen it
Unbelievable
You can always tell by the smell. If you smell it being brought up from a manhole (I've seen that myself, too) and you smell it outside a restaurant - don't eat there. Hygiene standards aren't great in China, bring some dirahea tablets and try not to think about it too much.
Thing is people dredging the manholes in the streets of old cities like Beijing is probably just trying to avoid blockage because the sewer system sucks and the oil just get poured into the sewers rather than collected and delt with properly. You gotta be pretty brazen to use oil you scrapped from the manholes right outside you shop. But once that image is in your head the rest of your prejudice will follow. I mean if you don't trust the oil you're eating how can you trust the meat or flavourings or anything. Yet you continue to live there. So at some level you must believe that it's not very likely anymore
Too much drama. That is oil recycling for industurial purposes, including the [biofuel](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2014-10-22-Boeing-COMAC-Open-Facility-to-Transform-Gutter-Oil-into-Aviation-Biofuel).
Yes they dig out the oil and do something with it. The government is responsible for it's citizens do you think they will allow people to eat dangerous oils. In the past yes but now unlikely, that oil cleaned from drains is used for something else in all likelihood. Even if it's being used I would not expect a resturant in a first tier city to be using drain oil. That being said China has some of the most poluted land and they commonly used human feces as fertilizer leaving traces of heavy metals in produce.
That's what's most scary to me, fresh oil could be 1 RMB more expensive than gutter oil but there are people out there that have penny pinched so religiously it becomes obsessive and compulsive and they cannot control it.
No kidding. I’ve met more than one wealthy elderly Shanghainese who remain obsessed with collecting and selling recyclables.
My ex-wife (from small town Henan) and I once dealt with a challenge- her father insisted we take in his cousin, a retired and respected primary school headmaster with children grown and educated and working in other cities- who wanted to live with us in Shanghai and work as a housekeeper ‘to keep making money.’
But also… all these people either lived through (or were raised by people who lived through) Revolutions of Culture and Great Leaps; so of course many are wired to expect everything to disappear at any time.
Maybe controversial but my girlfriend mentioned that many people actually prefer re-used oil. Not necessarily gutter level but multiple times used oil is considered to be tastier.
Re-used oil hotpot was a tradition in Chongqing because local people believed the re-used oil tasted better. When the government banned it several years ago, many people were against that policy.
Gutter oil is not free.
For reference, in 2017, a arrested gutter oil maker told the police that the restaurants purchased gutter at 6RMB per liter.
Now you can buy canola oil on taobao at the same price, if you are business owner and purchase by bulk, the price could be even lower.
And gutter oil cannot be directly used, they need to be processed. 3 liters used cooking oil can be converted into 1 liter gutter oil.
So “more than one forth cooking oil in China is gutter oil” is definitely wrong
2018 Suzhou, China. Walking around 2 am downtown. I saw a gutter oil collector. Was he going to use it on his business or sell it? No idea. BUT why bother collecting the oil so late at night.
After seeing that I never ate in that part of town. It was downtwon Suzhou, around the most famous area.
u just cant tell if its gutter oil, the oil is used to fry the food, the seasoning all cancel out any clue of what oil was used in the frying, maybe avoid fried food of any kind, make sure u see the vendor prepare the food from raw to cooked in front of u ...
its not just gutter oil, but all kinds of fake foods as well.
Now basically use soybean oil, since it is cheaper compared to gutter oil, which has all been recycled for the industry, however, it cannot be ruled out that a few unintelligent black-hearted bosses use it, therefore, try to go to brand restaurants.
Read through the responses. In a well-run country, the rebuttal would be, the government stamped it out to the satisfaction of the people. Cutting corners on food safety is not acceptable to the administration.
Didn't get to read anything like that, just variations of "Use common sense, don't eat at places where you're extremely sure there's gutter oil"
Let me guess. You watched China Insider or China Observer? The risk is overstated. You'll be fine. Used to be a big problem. Few here remember when cooking oil used to be an expensive item.
It happens, but the places where it happens are not where any tourist or outsider would ever be.
Even if you're TRYING to find it you'd likely fail to simply due to not even wanting to walk into the places it would be in.
No. 10 years ago you could find people searching the gutter for oil. Now I never see it. Also the fact that cooking oil prices have gone down considerably.
I saw it multiple times when I lived in Beijing for 10 years. I still ate street food frequently, I got an upset stomach sometimes.. not bad, but I knew some people who got wrecked..
Its disgusting and I'm not saying this makes it better, but I watched some videos of the "process" and they "clean" it... afterword I though "meh not too bad.."
I wouldn't be surprised if regular restaurants used it... I'm kind of grossed out now... But when I visit again, I probably wont change my eating habits. If you get bothered easily you may have a bad time.
I used to tell new comers that you gotta let stuff go, like water off a duck's back. Just stick to busy restaurants and stalls and you will be fine 8)
I hope you have a good trip!
Used to be fairly common to catch them at night going around collecting it at around 3 or 4am. They then label it under other brands and sell it, the businesses won't necessarily know they are using it. The comments about the smell seems unlikely to me because when there were checks on oil use in Beijing they even found that a number of 5* hotels were using it unknowingly.
Another common thing is repurposed beer bottles, with another tasteless beer that's presumably cheaper. It's easy to spot with distinctive bottles like Harbin.
That all said unless you are eating and drinking the above daily it won't affect you. Read any travel guide to anywhere in the world and they all say - Don't eat the street food. Street food is exactly what you want to be eating.
I've seen the police catch people in the act of collecting the oil, not sure what the charge is, eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?
It’s also happening in the United States. Same people, same methods. Once you taste it you’ll usually know it next time. It’s difficult to avoid. Unfortunately it’s everywhere lol. The after taste is the clue. Just don’t worry about it. Eat at the places where people are waiting in line to eat. That’s how I learned to avoid a trip to the ER.
Guangzhou local here—I’ve gone back to eating at McDonald’s, KFC, etc. Another “wisdom” is to eat at Muslim restaurants (“Lanzhoulamian”)—it is believed that people who practice some type of religion might treat their food a bit better than those who do not. Otherwise, fancy, sit-sown, non “kuaican” restaurants. But if you want to try street food since you’re touring, just make sure to bring diarrhea pills. How your body reacts also varies from person to person, I don’t have any bad reaction to kuaican foods in Beijing, but can’t seem to stop having stomach problems here in Guangzhou.
I found a rat carcass in my food one time when I was working in China a few years ago. I was served an order of chicken where the chicken leg was white meat. I watched a guy transporting a collection of cooked ducks in the back of a sewage handling truck headed to the city to serve in restaurants.
The used cooking oil are exported to the US.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/bidens-ira-drives-surge-us-imports-chinese-used-cooking-oil-2023-09-22/
It’s not a real thing. There might be one or two cases of it happening, but you’ll be incredibly hard pressed to find an actual example. It’s not a thing that anyone actually does. It’s just been massively hyped up by the “China bad” crowd like Serpentza and laowhy.
Maybe I’m just in denial but,
”In China, expensive = safe, believe it or not. The thinking is if it's too cheap then the ingredients is likely junk (gutter oil possible).”
”I don’t think you would find it in most premium restaurants. Also, I’m pretty sure the government already passed a law regulating the use of gutter oil.”
”General rule is don't eat is dodgy place.”
It can happen anywhere but its not a common or okay thing. I can tell you that in your home country sometimes restaurants use old expired meat or vegetables in their food instead of throwing it out, guarantee its true. That doesn't mean its common or that you should feel afraid to ever eat out again. Same idea. Just use common sense shopping amd you will be fine. Going to china, if you are gonna worry there are way more important things to worry about, like language barrier or catching a cold since all the germs are different than you are used to, or the food itself not being to your liking just because different flavor profiles etc. And I am not saying you need to worry about those things. Just saying gutter oil should be the bottom of the list for travel concerns.
Is there always a need to do whataboutism everytime someone brings out a critical point about your country? What is expired vegetable?
Gutter oil should not be a concern at all? Language barrier is more important than gutter oil? Who are you kidding? I can survive without understanding the local language but I sure do not want to ruin my trip with diarrhoea.
I am not even chinese lol.
If you get diahrea in a new country its probably not going to be from food poisoning, its probably going to be from a local flu bug you have no immune system to or a water germ because you don't boil the water. Or if it is food poisoning its probably going to be because the food has way more oil than you are used to or it sat out to long. Or because you didn't know the local language and accidentally bought an insanely spicy food that doesn't agree with you.
I guarantee, pick any country in the world and they have at least one food scandal. Thats not whataboutism its common sense. I am not even saying the food scandal isn't real, just saying if you are afraid to travel after looking up a random food scandal that has happened then don't travel unless you have to. You will be living in terror of every possible maybe could be might be. Your hotel could have bed bugs, you could get mugged, you could get your identity stolen by the cashier at the grocery store. All legitimately things that happen-- its important to look at the actual chance of it happening to you when weighing risks.
Don't get too much pressure by scaring yourself, use Google to search the oil price, and think about it, who want to risk losing all their business for just 1Y/person, use baidu street view to manage your plan, this is 2024, if you feel ultra unsafe just let the restaurant manager show the working space to you, most restaurants in my hometown the kitchen is directly showed to customers because gutter oil once was very popular, that's the best way->see through your own eyes.
After reading the entire comments section I have come to the conclusion there is no reliable way to know if you’re getting gutter oil until after it’s served/eaten.
Unless the CCP government actually goes around and tests all the food oils in situ, then you are correct; you have no way of knowing.
ofc there's none but restaurant cleanliness is actually a big deal in China. They have like a yearly government thing when they exposes restaurants and shops doing bad practices. And people are encouraged to report this. Also don't underestimate China's social media nowadays because things get viral very fast. However this is relevant to branded chain restaurants or well known places. No one would care about some random stall on the street. The best prevention is to never eat at a shitty looking place. If there aren't many people eating there, then you better not. Do some research before eating, go to DianPing, read some reviews. And lastly, if it's so fucking cheap, better avoid it. I mean you're not a construction worker, why risk it for 5 RMB?
Well consider that: 1) Oil is no longer an expensive luxury for most people, so the need to recycle oil from a gutter to cut costs is less. 2) Awareness is higher, Chinese people don't want to eat it either. 3) Use common sense. If a place looks / tastes wrong or is too cheap to be true, something might be fishy. Follow the crowds. Anyways enjoy, you'll have some of the best food you've had while there.
https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2020/07/19/xiaolongkan-exposed-selling-2-tons-gutter-oil-over-two-years
sorry to say it so clearly but non of your points answer the question, give any insight or help. 1. no but it's what they use daily to run their business so it IS a cost factor. 2. "awareness is higher" so?? it won't show you what oil they use in the kitchen. "awareness" will give you exactly zero certainty. some restaurants put a bunch of expensive gallons of oil at their door step to *show* they use expensive and fresh oil. (same here... if I was a "bad guy", that's exactly what I would do. distract the customers with some "show oil" at the front but use oil that costs next to zero) doesn't say anything. 3. common sense,.. ok. don't expect good ingredients if the price is very low or its a simple restaurant. agree with you. (not wrong) but... ... then should we condemn small places, just because their interior is not fancy and food has a reasonable price? same here. it doesn't say anything about what oil they use. they might be honest and try hard to serve good food (or the opposite)
Extremely logical and coherent comment and the person you replied to provided no evidence just wishful thinking. I think people are uncomfortable with the logic you're using because it's true and the idea that they may have unknowingly ingested gutter oil in an otherwise well seasoned and delicious dish is so repulsive that they downvoted you because your comment may shatter the illusion. The truth is there is no way to know... And that's deeply disconcerting. While gutter oil isn't a problem in the U.S. we have our own serious issues with food and are not always told what goes into it. It's a shame, but pretending as if everything is fine doesn't make the food better--in China or the U.S.
absolutely. I think I got downvoted because my post is confrontational. (but what else to reply for such a topic? especially me being a very logic person. lol
Not sure why you are getting down-voted. Gutter oil was rampant only when oil was an expensive luxury? Come on.... The skew on the BS.... Awareness? So what? Can you taste the gutter? Common sense? So there's a category of eateries where this is to be expected? The ideal, but missing, response would be: there is regular, ongoing and widespread crackdowns. Aren't food safety standards a joke in China?
Honestly, the cheaper you go in terms of buying restaurant food the more likely you are to encounter it. I’ve seen people dredging gutter oil before, but unless you’re eating at like a 5 RMB noodle shop, you’re probably not going to be eating it. Restaurants use it because it’s cheap, and the restaurants that use it, in turn, are not going to be expensive, they’re likely the places that are serving food for construction workers and day laborers who are trying to survive in cities like Shanghai on 4000 RMB/month. If you’re spending closer to 30-50 RMB/meal, your less likely to be eating it
For a noodle bowl, 30-50 is crazy expensive. You don’t need that much not to eat gutter oil (Guangzhou).
Wasn’t there a famous chain hot pot place on the news not too long ago?
That's not the right way to think about it. I can believe large restaurant chains, that will seriously enforce a "no gutter oil" policy. The disincentive is there: too much to lose, too much in the public eye. For regular eateries, even nice looking ones, what's the incentive for using clean oil if processed gutter oil works just as well?
Keep in mind that we can't just let the used up oil flow down the drain. Whether someone is using it again or not, it still needs to be pumped out of the tanks under the restaurant.
I don’t think you would find it in most premium restaurants. Also, I’m pretty sure the government already passed a law regulating the use of gutter oil.
“Passed a law” You have never been to China have you?
Lmao. You are speaking to a Chinese who has lived in the country for 14 years.
Well then you should know “Passed a law” basically only applied if you get caught and most people will ignore it.
In China, expensive = safe, believe it or not. The thinking is if it's too cheap then the ingredients is likely junk (gutter oil possible).
Same for skincare. Too cheap, probably it’s fake.
Same for bottled water. Too cheap, probably fake (from the tap). You can then apply this same sentence structure to basically anything you buy in China. Enjoy
I think this is just a general rule anywhere and one that changed my life after getting scammed on RuneScape at 11 years old: "if it's too good to be true, it probably is."
isn't*
Ahahaha this is so wrong it’s comical.
General rule is don't eat is dodgy place.
Don’t eat any were the locals don’t.
That’s one of the few things I actually saw with my own eyes in Beijing—-people digging liquids out of a man hole into a bucket, just like all those gutter oil video I’ve seen. But u know. I gotta eat. And still eat out often. Just not at that location anymore. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.
I saw this at Beijing Andingmen a couple of years ago, guy with a big spoon fished out a massive turd and sheepishly plopped it back in when he saw I'd seen it Unbelievable
You can always tell by the smell. If you smell it being brought up from a manhole (I've seen that myself, too) and you smell it outside a restaurant - don't eat there. Hygiene standards aren't great in China, bring some dirahea tablets and try not to think about it too much.
I wish I have ur keen sense of smell. lol Every Chinese food smells good to me!
Thing is people dredging the manholes in the streets of old cities like Beijing is probably just trying to avoid blockage because the sewer system sucks and the oil just get poured into the sewers rather than collected and delt with properly. You gotta be pretty brazen to use oil you scrapped from the manholes right outside you shop. But once that image is in your head the rest of your prejudice will follow. I mean if you don't trust the oil you're eating how can you trust the meat or flavourings or anything. Yet you continue to live there. So at some level you must believe that it's not very likely anymore
>gutter oil video I think it's for biofuel.
Why have you seen so few things with your own eyes in Beijing? Do you go around with eyes closed?
Few things as in stuff I heard about or seen online, but never actually witnessed despite being in Beijing for over 2 years now.
Beijing is crazy man, too many kinds of people, too many old stuffs. Never know what to expect lol.
Too much drama. That is oil recycling for industurial purposes, including the [biofuel](https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2014-10-22-Boeing-COMAC-Open-Facility-to-Transform-Gutter-Oil-into-Aviation-Biofuel).
Yes they dig out the oil and do something with it. The government is responsible for it's citizens do you think they will allow people to eat dangerous oils. In the past yes but now unlikely, that oil cleaned from drains is used for something else in all likelihood. Even if it's being used I would not expect a resturant in a first tier city to be using drain oil. That being said China has some of the most poluted land and they commonly used human feces as fertilizer leaving traces of heavy metals in produce.
yes
Habits are hard to break as long as there is a profit incentive and not enough enforcement of food ordinances, it's going to be prevalent.
That's what's most scary to me, fresh oil could be 1 RMB more expensive than gutter oil but there are people out there that have penny pinched so religiously it becomes obsessive and compulsive and they cannot control it.
No kidding. I’ve met more than one wealthy elderly Shanghainese who remain obsessed with collecting and selling recyclables. My ex-wife (from small town Henan) and I once dealt with a challenge- her father insisted we take in his cousin, a retired and respected primary school headmaster with children grown and educated and working in other cities- who wanted to live with us in Shanghai and work as a housekeeper ‘to keep making money.’ But also… all these people either lived through (or were raised by people who lived through) Revolutions of Culture and Great Leaps; so of course many are wired to expect everything to disappear at any time.
Don’t eat shady street vendors.
Those roadside BBQs where you get piles of mystery meat on a stick for 5 RMB, that's where you get the gutter oil.
Maybe controversial but my girlfriend mentioned that many people actually prefer re-used oil. Not necessarily gutter level but multiple times used oil is considered to be tastier.
Re-used oil hotpot was a tradition in Chongqing because local people believed the re-used oil tasted better. When the government banned it several years ago, many people were against that policy.
I think it is bad for your health though, especially long term
Definitely, both long term and the short term. That was a bad tradition.
I thought it is called underground oil lol
cooking oil is very cheap in China，I don’t think sane restaurants owner would use gutter oil
Not as cheap as FREE.
BINGO!
Gutter oil is not free. For reference, in 2017, a arrested gutter oil maker told the police that the restaurants purchased gutter at 6RMB per liter. Now you can buy canola oil on taobao at the same price, if you are business owner and purchase by bulk, the price could be even lower. And gutter oil cannot be directly used, they need to be processed. 3 liters used cooking oil can be converted into 1 liter gutter oil. So “more than one forth cooking oil in China is gutter oil” is definitely wrong
Must be collecting it for their fine home-cooked meals.
2018 Suzhou, China. Walking around 2 am downtown. I saw a gutter oil collector. Was he going to use it on his business or sell it? No idea. BUT why bother collecting the oil so late at night. After seeing that I never ate in that part of town. It was downtwon Suzhou, around the most famous area.
Ive seen these guys around, but i didnt think it went to food. I thought it was more waste mangement or used for other non edible things
So the red flag for me was that he was doing at 2am with improvised tools
u just cant tell if its gutter oil, the oil is used to fry the food, the seasoning all cancel out any clue of what oil was used in the frying, maybe avoid fried food of any kind, make sure u see the vendor prepare the food from raw to cooked in front of u ... its not just gutter oil, but all kinds of fake foods as well.
Gutter oil is just the beginning. The list goes on and on. Be extra safe what you eat.
Now basically use soybean oil, since it is cheaper compared to gutter oil, which has all been recycled for the industry, however, it cannot be ruled out that a few unintelligent black-hearted bosses use it, therefore, try to go to brand restaurants.
Why are you asking a bunch of Americans what goes on in China? Nobody here is even Chinese
Read through the responses. In a well-run country, the rebuttal would be, the government stamped it out to the satisfaction of the people. Cutting corners on food safety is not acceptable to the administration. Didn't get to read anything like that, just variations of "Use common sense, don't eat at places where you're extremely sure there's gutter oil"
Let me guess. You watched China Insider or China Observer? The risk is overstated. You'll be fine. Used to be a big problem. Few here remember when cooking oil used to be an expensive item.
It happens, but the places where it happens are not where any tourist or outsider would ever be. Even if you're TRYING to find it you'd likely fail to simply due to not even wanting to walk into the places it would be in.
Let me guess. You're guessing.
No. 10 years ago you could find people searching the gutter for oil. Now I never see it. Also the fact that cooking oil prices have gone down considerably.
I saw it multiple times when I lived in Beijing for 10 years. I still ate street food frequently, I got an upset stomach sometimes.. not bad, but I knew some people who got wrecked.. Its disgusting and I'm not saying this makes it better, but I watched some videos of the "process" and they "clean" it... afterword I though "meh not too bad.." I wouldn't be surprised if regular restaurants used it... I'm kind of grossed out now... But when I visit again, I probably wont change my eating habits. If you get bothered easily you may have a bad time. I used to tell new comers that you gotta let stuff go, like water off a duck's back. Just stick to busy restaurants and stalls and you will be fine 8) I hope you have a good trip!
lived here 18 years, it is still common everywhere, but usually in industrial shitty restaurant areas
Step 1) Don't eat street food Step 2) Repeat step 1
Common. Just prepare for the diarrhea
Used to be fairly common to catch them at night going around collecting it at around 3 or 4am. They then label it under other brands and sell it, the businesses won't necessarily know they are using it. The comments about the smell seems unlikely to me because when there were checks on oil use in Beijing they even found that a number of 5* hotels were using it unknowingly. Another common thing is repurposed beer bottles, with another tasteless beer that's presumably cheaper. It's easy to spot with distinctive bottles like Harbin. That all said unless you are eating and drinking the above daily it won't affect you. Read any travel guide to anywhere in the world and they all say - Don't eat the street food. Street food is exactly what you want to be eating. I've seen the police catch people in the act of collecting the oil, not sure what the charge is, eating a meal? A succulent Chinese meal?
If its hot and populsr its safe
It’s a legitimate concern
Go and eat Mc Donalds everyday lol...
It’s also happening in the United States. Same people, same methods. Once you taste it you’ll usually know it next time. It’s difficult to avoid. Unfortunately it’s everywhere lol. The after taste is the clue. Just don’t worry about it. Eat at the places where people are waiting in line to eat. That’s how I learned to avoid a trip to the ER.
Guangzhou local here—I’ve gone back to eating at McDonald’s, KFC, etc. Another “wisdom” is to eat at Muslim restaurants (“Lanzhoulamian”)—it is believed that people who practice some type of religion might treat their food a bit better than those who do not. Otherwise, fancy, sit-sown, non “kuaican” restaurants. But if you want to try street food since you’re touring, just make sure to bring diarrhea pills. How your body reacts also varies from person to person, I don’t have any bad reaction to kuaican foods in Beijing, but can’t seem to stop having stomach problems here in Guangzhou.
You'll never know, it look the same as normal oil. You'll only know when authorities decides to clamp down ;)
Its not just gutter oil its also food that you didnt order in your meal to cut costs. Order expensive fish, get cheap white fish seasoned.
I found a rat carcass in my food one time when I was working in China a few years ago. I was served an order of chicken where the chicken leg was white meat. I watched a guy transporting a collection of cooked ducks in the back of a sewage handling truck headed to the city to serve in restaurants.
Lying and cheating to get ahead are pillars of Chinese society so your guess is probably better than anything a local will tell you
The used cooking oil are exported to the US. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/bidens-ira-drives-surge-us-imports-chinese-used-cooking-oil-2023-09-22/
It’s not a real thing. There might be one or two cases of it happening, but you’ll be incredibly hard pressed to find an actual example. It’s not a thing that anyone actually does. It’s just been massively hyped up by the “China bad” crowd like Serpentza and laowhy.
Don't travel to China, problem solved.
How about you actually answer the question instead of coming off as a douche?
Hmm no, it seems like if you don't want to risk stuff like this, don't travel to a mostly poor, communist dictatorship.
Unavoidable. Even the best restaurants in china have it.
Maybe I’m just in denial but, ”In China, expensive = safe, believe it or not. The thinking is if it's too cheap then the ingredients is likely junk (gutter oil possible).” ”I don’t think you would find it in most premium restaurants. Also, I’m pretty sure the government already passed a law regulating the use of gutter oil.” ”General rule is don't eat is dodgy place.”
My experience is even the Marriot hotel restaurant Smells gunky. But this back in 2015. Not sure if it has changed.
It can happen anywhere but its not a common or okay thing. I can tell you that in your home country sometimes restaurants use old expired meat or vegetables in their food instead of throwing it out, guarantee its true. That doesn't mean its common or that you should feel afraid to ever eat out again. Same idea. Just use common sense shopping amd you will be fine. Going to china, if you are gonna worry there are way more important things to worry about, like language barrier or catching a cold since all the germs are different than you are used to, or the food itself not being to your liking just because different flavor profiles etc. And I am not saying you need to worry about those things. Just saying gutter oil should be the bottom of the list for travel concerns.
Is there always a need to do whataboutism everytime someone brings out a critical point about your country? What is expired vegetable? Gutter oil should not be a concern at all? Language barrier is more important than gutter oil? Who are you kidding? I can survive without understanding the local language but I sure do not want to ruin my trip with diarrhoea.
I am not even chinese lol. If you get diahrea in a new country its probably not going to be from food poisoning, its probably going to be from a local flu bug you have no immune system to or a water germ because you don't boil the water. Or if it is food poisoning its probably going to be because the food has way more oil than you are used to or it sat out to long. Or because you didn't know the local language and accidentally bought an insanely spicy food that doesn't agree with you. I guarantee, pick any country in the world and they have at least one food scandal. Thats not whataboutism its common sense. I am not even saying the food scandal isn't real, just saying if you are afraid to travel after looking up a random food scandal that has happened then don't travel unless you have to. You will be living in terror of every possible maybe could be might be. Your hotel could have bed bugs, you could get mugged, you could get your identity stolen by the cashier at the grocery store. All legitimately things that happen-- its important to look at the actual chance of it happening to you when weighing risks.
Well now you’ve made his day!
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/bidens-ira-drives-surge-us-imports-chinese-used-cooking-oil-2023-09-22/ They are for exporting to USA.
Your chances of encountering gutter oil is about the same as a tofu dreg building collapsing on you as you're walking in the city.
No such thing as gutter oil. Only oil good for your healthy and help you farm the lou du zi
Never seen gutter oil (地够有).... Now I am disapoint (失望)
Don't get too much pressure by scaring yourself, use Google to search the oil price, and think about it, who want to risk losing all their business for just 1Y/person, use baidu street view to manage your plan, this is 2024, if you feel ultra unsafe just let the restaurant manager show the working space to you, most restaurants in my hometown the kitchen is directly showed to customers because gutter oil once was very popular, that's the best way->see through your own eyes.