China Grain Reserves Group vows to inspect tank trucks

China Grain Reserves Group issued a statement on Saturday requiring its entire system to inspect the issue of mixing the use of tank trucks for edible oil transportation.

Earlier reports by The Beijing News had revealed that many tank trucks, after unloading coal-to-liquid products, directly drove into edible oil factories in Tianjin and loaded edible soybean oil for further transportation without cleaning or replacing the tanks, posing a risk of edible oil contamination by residual chemical liquids.

Coal-to-liquid, a chemical liquid processed from coal, contains various components that pose health risks to humans and long-term consumption may lead to poisoning; whereas soybean oil is one of the most commonly used edible oils in our daily lives.

The regulations on the bulk transport of edible vegetable oil implemented in China in 2014 stipulate that specialized vehicles should be used for the transport of bulk edible vegetable oil, and non-edible vegetable oil tank trucks or containers are not allowed for this purpose.

The transport regulations also state that before filling the oil, careful inspection should be conducted to ensure that the transport containers are specialized and that they are clean and dry.

China Grain Reserves Group will conduct inspections throughout all subsidiaries to ensure that the transportation tools used in the inbound and outbound processes meet the requirements, that the transportation tools of relevant transportation carriers comply with food safety regulations, and that the operations during transportation are standardized, thereby ensuring the food safety, the group said in the statement.