Gutter oil makers stand trial

Twenty people went on trial Wednesday in East China's Zhejiang Province for their role in illegally collecting, refining and distributing a huge amount of what is infamously known as gutter oil.

The Ningbo Intermediate People's Court charged the principle suspect Liu Liguo, manager of Gelin Bio-Energy Co in Jinan, Shandong Province, with profiteering from the production and sale of poisonous waste cooking oil since the end of 2007.

Ningbo police arrested 32 suspects in August last year after busting an underground network that produced "recycled" cooking oil that had been collected from sewers.

The gutter oil network spanned 14 provinces including Shandong, Henan and Zhejiang.

Liu's company in Shandong raked in annual revenues of more than 99 million yuan ($15.6 million), while two other Henan-based companies, which bought oil from Liu and mixed it with standard cooking oil, had a sales volume of over 350 million yuan.

"Gutter oil can be as clear as standard cooking oil after the solid waste is removed and refined several times," Mao Hai ping, head of Shanghai Xinwang Environmental Sanitary Service Co Ltd, an authorized oil recycler, told the Global Times. "What we cannot get rid of is the pungent odor."

Mao said illegal gutter oil makers try to mask the odor by mixing it with good-quality oil.

Yuan Yi, another wholesaler who purchased the oil from Liu, sold it to canteens at construction sites and night food stalls in Henan.

"Those involved in refining and selling gutter oil should be severely punished," Zhang Peihong, a lawyer specializing in criminal defense from Shanghai Zhaijian Law Firm, told the Global Times.

Zhang admitted that it is relatively difficult to find victims who have consumed gutter oil as it likely will not cause food poisoning and long-term side affects take a long time to emerge.

According to China's Criminal Law, those who produce and sell harmful and poisonous foods can be sentenced to five to 10 years in prison. In cases where death has been caused, those found guilty can receive life imprisonment, or even the death penalty.

The trial is expected to last until Friday.