Quanjude ducks liabilty for oil scandal

Roast duck chain Quanjude claimed it is the victim of a "gutter oil" scandal, after a man accused of selling poisonous food was alleged to have procured waste oil from two branches of the restaurant.　

Wang Duohao, a 40-year-old man, was charged with the crime of "producing and selling poisonous food" by Chaoyang district procuratorate Saturday. It was alleged that for seven years, Wang bought oil which had been used in the two branches, which he then recycled for use in other catering businesses.

"I'm unaware of any rectification going on in our restaurant these days, everything remains the same," said a female reception manager at the Sanyuanqiao branch of Quanjude, Chaoyang district, one of the branches involved in the scandal.

Another anonymous employee at the Olympic Village branch restaurant, Chaoyang district, the other branch named, in the scandal, refused to comment.

According to the Beijing Youth Daily yesterday, both managers had their year-end bonuses cut as a fine, and the stores are "under rectification and improvement."

"Our logistics department had no idea Wang sold the waste oil to be reused to make fried dough sticks for the last seven years until the police busted his factory. We thought we could trust him with all the registration papers provided," said the manager of the Olympic Village branch, surnamed Zhu, at a press conference on Saturday.

"We got fooled as well and it was beyond our ability to control what use the waste oil was put to when out of our restaurants," said Zhu.

Customers still feel disappointed in both the brand, and a failure to enforce food safety regulations.

"It shows serious loopholes in the inspections the government should have conducted in the food business, but it's also disappointing that Quanjude only cares about clearing its name," said Wei Lei, a diner in Quanjude Qianmen branch restaurant, Xicheng district, this weekend.

"How come they never paid one visit to the factory that had been dealing with their waste oil for seven years?" said Wei.　

Sun Mingde, a lawyer from Beijing Guolian Law Firm, thinks Wang will face a harsh sentence of at least five years or more in prison.　

"The government has struggled to clean up the food scandals that repeatedly stirred public anger," said Sun.　

"The new laws for those who knowingly produce, sell or serve poisonous food require the authorities to consider the death penalty," he noted.　

This February, the Ministry of Public Security issued a notice jointly with two other authorities saying criminals involved in the production and sale of gutter oil could be sentenced to death depending on the harm done, according to the ministry's website.

There is no indication that Wang harmed anyone, although products made using the oil would most likely have been sold on the streets, said police.