_________________________________________________________
THREE SEPARATE INCIDENTS OF PEOPLE COLLECTING GREASE FROM GUTTERS AND GREASE TRAPS HAVE SENT SHIVERS UP THE SPINES OF MANY SINGAPOREANS.
What were they up to? Collecting used cooking oil to be recycled into cooking oil?
STOMP
Posted on 12 February 2014
A two-people crew pumping out the contents from sewers in Jurong West left Stomper Justin worried about the possibility of ‘gutter oil’ being used in Singapore.
Stomp previously carried a report of how some street food stalls and restaurants in China cook with ‘gutter oil’, which is actually oil processed from rubbish and the contents inside sewers.
Two restaurant owners in Shanghai were also fined and jailed after they were found to have used ‘gutter oil’ in their food.
In his report, Stomper Justin wrote:
“After having lunch at around 2.30pm on Tuesday (Feb 11), I saw two people — a man and a woman — pushing a suction system and a tank towards an opening leading into the sewers near Block 505 Market and Food Centre in Jurong West.
“They look like they were from China though I can’t be sure.
“What they did was drop a ‘basket’, that was probably a filter of sorts, to drag up the oil, without dirt, from inside the sewers.
“After sucking up small portions of the oil, they then transfer it into larger tanks at the back of their lorry.
“I feel they are really drawing out gutter oil. Who knows if they’ll use it as cooking oil.
—
YAHOO! NEWS SINGAPORE
NEA on ‘gutter oil’ scare: Waste oil from grease traps sent for biodiesel processing
By Nurul Azliah Aripin | Yahoo Newsroom
Yahoo Newsroom – The National Environment Agency (NEA) clarified on Wednesday that February sightings in Jurong of people extracting cooking oil from grease traps serving nearby eateries was in fact sent for
The National Environment Agency (NEA) clarified on Wednesday that cooking oil extracted from grease traps was in fact sent for processing into biodiesel.
…
However, the NEA said it is still investigating an incident in Toa Payoh earlier this week of two men fleeing from police while they were extracting oil from the grease trap near a food centre in Toa Payoh Lorong 4.
“Food establishments are required to provide grease traps and maintain them regularly by engaging licensed general waste collectors,” said an NEA spokesman in a statement.
…
On Monday this week, Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao reported two men fleeing from police while they were extracting oil from a grease trap near a food centre in Toa Payoh Lorong 4, sparking fears of “gutter oil” being recycled in Singapore.
An eyewitness who operated a drinks stall at the food centre said she had seen men collecting waste oil almost every week, using long tubes and a metal drum.
…
On Saturday, another photo on citizen journalism site STOMP also showed two men appearing to pump sewage contents from a grease trap into an oil drum at Yishun Block 744.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/nea-investigating–gutter-oil–health-scare-071626730.html
—
Straits Times Breaking News
NEA looking into gutter oil extraction incident at Toa Payoh Lorong 4
Published on Mar 05, 2014
4:58 PM
Staff from National Environment Agency-licensed general waste collector J.O.L Environmental at the manhole at Block 73A, Lorong 4 Toa Payoh at 2pm on Monday, after the two men who were seen extracting used cooking oil in the morning disappeared. — PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
The National Environment Agency (NEA) is investigating a case involving two men who were seen extracting used cooking oil from a grease trap at Block 73A, Lorong 4 Toa Payoh on Monday.
Straits Times
—
In China, trade in ‘gutter oil’s done illegally.
The black market trade of gutter oil, or dirty recycled cooking oil, is prevalent in China, where the rising cost of cooking oil in China since 2011 has pushed many food outlets in the country to turn to cheaper alternatives, such as gutter oil. The prices of cooking oil in the country have increased by 4.8 per cent year on year in January.
While the practice is not new, China’s government has banned the use of gutter oil. In one high-profile case, a gutter oil manufacturer was sentenced to death. The man and his two brothers had set up an oil plant in 2001, and began to make the illegal oil five years later. The brothers sold the oil to 17 dealers in two of China’s provinces – Shandong and Shanxi.
The process of producing gutter oil in China involves extracting waste oil from sewers, grease traps, waste from slaughterhouses, reprocessing it and then selling it as cooking oil. The oil is usually salvaged from restaurant waste, gutters, drains and animal fat and sold at below-market rates to street vendors.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/nea-investigating–gutter-oil–health-scare-071626730.html
…
——————————————————————
weehingthong 
Pingback: All my Posts on Singapore | weehingthong