On July 2nd, The Beijing News published an investigation report entitled "Investigation on chaos in tanker transportation: unloading coal-to-liquids and directly shipping edible soybean oil". The report found that some tankers directly loaded edible oil in two oil companies in Tianjin and Hebei after transporting coal-to-liquids from Ningxia to Tianjin, and shipped them to other places without cleaning the tanks.
The whole incident involved many large enterprises such as China Grain Storage, Huifu Grain and Oil, Arowana and so on, which aroused the concern of the whole society. Although the scope, nature and responsibility of the incident are still inconclusive, the "mixed transport" report that appeared as early as 2005 and 2015 made the society aware that this was not an isolated case, which further aggravated people’s concerns about food safety.
On July 9, the State Council Food Safety Office organized the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Transport, the General Administration of Market Supervision, the State Grain and Reserve Bureau and other departments to hold a special meeting to study, and set up a joint investigation team to thoroughly investigate the problems related to the transportation of edible oil tankers. For illegal enterprises and related responsible persons, they will be severely punished according to law and will not be tolerated. At the same time, we will organize a special investigation of hidden dangers of edible oil. The results of investigation and disposal will be announced in time.
Although the investigation has just begun, layers of stripping incidents, we have to ask:
First, where did the oil involved in the report go? The implicit question is: in which channels may mixed oil appear?
Second, to what extent does this mixed transportation exist? Is it common? This question means whether it is possible for people to avoid mixed transportation of oil.
Third, is there a standard? Is there a loophole in supervision in this field? Is the so-called "lack of mandatory standards" a fact?
The fourth is how to be accountable? Who should be punished, according to what law, and how strong the punishment is.
The fifth is how to avoid it? Punishment is the first step.Some researchers suggest that a "whistleblower system" should be established, so that grass-roots workers can form a game relationship with managers who command illegal activities, and drivers can play this role.
Where did the tanker go?
The trajectory of the fuel tanker Ji E5476W-this car appeared in the video report of The Beijing News-involved more enterprises, including Yihai Kerry Arowana Food Group Co., Ltd..
The track of the oil tanker circulating on the Internet shows that Ji E5476W was loaded from Hebei Hongrun Oil Industry Co., Ltd. in xinji city, Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province on March 22nd.After that, it was unloaded at Yihai Kerry in Dongxihu District, Wuhan on March 24th.Grain and oil industry co., ltd. On June 1, the vehicle was again in Dongguan Fuzhiyuan Feed Protein Development Company, China Textile Grain and Oil Company.After loading vegetable oil, the company unloaded the goods at Arowana Factory in Xianxing Road, Xianyang on June 4th. Later, on June 5th, the vehicle came to the logistics center of Ningxia Coal Industry Coal-to-Liquid Chemical Sales Branch of ningdong town National Energy Group in Yinchuan to load coal-to-liquid oil.
Arowana confirmed the trip to the Economic Observer Network and explained that the trip to the Wuhan factory was the first transportation after the car was registered, that is, it was in a new car state at the time of shipment; During the trip to Shaanxi factory, before shipment and when loading the factory, the company verified the edible oil mark on its tank body and the pre-loaded written seal certificate in accordance with the requirements of relevant systems, and cleaned and inspected the tank. After passing the inspection, the oil was loaded and sealed before shipment. After the oil products arrived at the factory, the receiving factory verified the lead seal and tested the food safety and quality indicators stipulated by the national standards. The product quality test results all met the relevant national requirements. From loading to unloading, the company formed a complete closed loop, the product indicators fully met the national standards, and the company fully fulfilled its regulatory responsibilities.
butAs of press time, Arowana has not responded to questions such as where the unloaded oil products are used and whether other uses of vehicles are monitored..
Yihai Kerry was introduced in a report released by Wuhan Dongxihu District Media Center and the Foreign Affairs Office of the District Committee in November 2023.Cereals and Oils Industry Co., Ltd. was established in 2002. The company’s sales in 2022 were nearly 9.7 billion yuan, and from a single oil-squeezing production line, it squeezed 100,000 tons of rapeseed every year. Now its products have covered many fields such as packaging edible oil, rice, flour, feed raw materials, grease technology and so on.
The driving track of Hebei E5476W from March 22nd to July 6th also includes COFCO.Grain and Oil Industry Co., Ltd. Fangchenggang Aojia Grain and Oil Industry Co., Ltd., Yuanda GreaseLtd., Langfang Hongxin Feed Technology Co., Ltd., Hebei Kunpeng Feed Group Cangzhou Co., Ltd., Angel YeastCo., Ltd. and many other companies, in addition to vegetable oil, coal-to-liquid oil, there are feed particles, fertilizers, suspected hazardous chemicals and so on.
The reporters of Economic Observer Network also called the above-mentioned companies respectively, among which Angel Yeast Co., Ltd. said that the details would be announced after verification with relevant departments. Other companies have not been able to get through.
According to a receipt in the video report of The Beijing News, the receiving unit of the first-grade soybean oil pulled from Huifu Grain and Oil Group is Hebei Logistics Group Metal Materials Co., Ltd.. Official website shows that the company is mainly engaged in the wholesale, retail and import and export of steel, coal, pig iron, coke, mineral products, iron concentrate and other products.
After the incident of unloading kerosene and loading edible oil was reported, Huifu Cereals and Oils Group, which was involved in it, responded that it had nothing to do with its own edible oil brand, but involved bulk customers. According to the information published by WeChat official account of Huifu Cereals and Oils Group quoted by China Business News, Huifu Cereals and Oils Group published a list of some individual customers, including Sanhe Yawang Food, Shanghai Puyao Agricultural Products, Shanghai Kaiye Cereals and Oils, Beijing Century Yuefu, Zhonghe Yufeng Cereals and Oils, Tianjin Huake Technology, Baoding Honghai Cereals and Oils, Fangshun United Cereals and Oils, Shenyang Midtown Supply Chain and other enterprises. It is worth noting that the WeChat official account content has been deleted.
After the oil of Huifu Cereals and Oils Group is transported away by bulk customers, where may it flow and for what purpose?
According to Tianyancha information, Sanhe Yawang Food Co., Ltd. was established in 2017 with a registered capital of 10 million yuan. Its products include edible plant blended oil, sunflower seed oil, finished soybean oil, etc. The specifications include 10 liters, 5 liters/barrel, 1.8L/ bottle, etc. The manufacturer of "Happy Family Edible Oil" sold on some e-commerce platforms is the company.
In addition, there is a public information of the first quarter of 2024 in Wuji County, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province.It shows that Southwest Feng School in Zhangduangu Town, Wuji County uses 20L/ barrel of finished soybean oil produced by this company.
Another Beijing Century Yuefu Food Co., Ltd. is located in Fangshan District, Beijing, which is mainly engaged in agricultural and sideline food processing industry. The company has convenient food trademarks such as Xiangxiang, Jingxi Yuefu, Mu Ning Huichen and Huisheng.
A "2024 Beijing University Joint Procurement of Food Raw Materials Suppliers (Commodities) Shortlisted and School Winning Candidate Bidding Project Shortlisted Results" released by Beijing University Joint Procurement Center of Food Raw Materials shows that in higher education schools in Beijing,In the tender for rice, flour and edible oil, Beijing Century Yuefu Food Co., Ltd. was among them.
Regarding the use of oil trucks, the final destination and use of the problem oil, the market supervision departments in Tianjin and Langfang all said that they were still under investigation, and the final investigation results were not released as of press time.
Is mixed transportation common?
A carrier who stores grain and oil told Economic Observer that this phenomenon is "a mouse excrement spoils a pot of porridge". The carrier said that large oil companies put great pressure on Party B as its carrier, and set up a strict punishment system at the same time, which reduced the occurrence of large-scale mixed transportation to some extent. However, when oil companies are sellers, it is difficult to restrain the trucks of downstream buyers.
The carrier has seen the way of tank inspection of stored grain oil-the staff will wear white gloves, wipe the joint and the two tank mouths on the tank, smell the pungent smell, and then take pictures to leave marks.
An industry insider in charge of tanker dispatching told Economic Observer that the phenomenon of mixed transportation of chemicals and edible oil had appeared as early as 2000. At that time, some teams or individuals who had run long distances and could not receive orders and did not want to come back empty would do so.
The person in charge of dispatching said that the normal tank inspection process requires the driver to provide the video, receipt and payment screenshot of tank cleaning, and the person in charge of tank inspection will bring the equipment to the scene and go directly to the tank for inspection. However, in order to control the cost, some edible oil companies will acquiesce in the mixed transportation incident. "The company will not be unaware of it, because the coalified oil has a pungent taste, and no matter how it is washed, it may not be completely removed, let alone washed. Moreover, edible oil companies often do not test, and tens of thousands of tons of large storage tanks are directly unloaded when they arrive. "
A person who used to be engaged in the transportation of hazardous chemicals pointed out the reason why drivers used to carry edible oil back home: "Compared with other kinds of chemicals, edible oil is not easy to react with the chemicals left in the tank, which is safer and more convenient for downstream acceptance."
Almost all interviewers mentioned the impact of the downward freight rate on the industry. In recent years, the freight rate of tank cars has been falling, which has approached the cost price. Especially after the implementation of "zero down payment", a large number of new cars poured in, which further intensified market competition and led to further lower freight rates.These vehicles with zero down payment generally bear a higher loan amount, and the monthly repayment amount is generally between 17,000 and 18,000 yuan.
According to what standard?
The Beijing News reported that the GB/T30354-2013 Code for Bulk Transportation of Edible Vegetable Oils, which was implemented in China in 2014, stipulated that special vehicles should be used for bulk transportation of edible vegetable oils. However, this code is only a recommended national standard, not a mandatory national standard, and has limited binding force on edible oil manufacturers.
According to the inquiry of Economic Observer Network, the Food Safety Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) has a specific definition of "food safety standards", which refers to "mandatory standards". The national standards for food safety shall be formulated and promulgated by the health administrative department of the State Council in conjunction with the food safety supervision and administration department of the State Council, and the standardization administrative department of the State Council shall provide the national standard number.
Therefore, by Henan University of Technology, Wuhan Institute of Technology, National Grain Bureau Standard Quality Center, Yihai Kerry Grain and OilCo., Ltd., COFCO Beihai Grain and Oil IndustryGB/T30354-2013 Code for Bulk Transportation of Edible Vegetable Oil, which was drafted by Shandong Lu Hua Group Co., Ltd. and Shandong Co., Ltd., is not a food safety standard.
At present, the national standards for food safety include National Standards for Food Safety and General Hygienic Standards for Food Production., the national standard for food safety, hygienic standard for food business process.Hygienic standard for production of edible vegetable oil and its products. These mandatory standards have clearly defined the hygienic requirements related to the storage and transportation of edible oil, for example, special transportation tools should be used to transport food; Means of transport and containers, tools and equipment for loading and unloading food should be kept clean and disinfected regularly; Food transport vehicles shall not transport toxic and harmful substances to prevent food pollution.
Another official of the national food safety standard-setting department told Economic Observer that his department had made a preliminary study on this issue, and believed that the relevant issues were related to the suspected illegal activities of relevant enterprises, and the supervision was not in place. It should be investigated and dealt with in strict accordance with the law and regulations, and supervision should be strengthened.It does not involve the establishment of temporary limit values of pollutants, supplementary inspection methods and no mandatory standards.
According to the detailed rules for the implementation of food safety supervision and sampling inspection",edible vegetable oil needs to be sampled and tested in production, circulation, catering and other links. Among them, the spot check of bulk edible vegetable oil is specially stipulated. "For bulk edible vegetable oil, the uniformity and representativeness of the sampled products should be considered, and samples should be taken from different parts of the top, middle and bottom of the oil storage tank or tanker and mixed evenly."
After sampling, the inspection agency will issue the inspection results. Whether the edible vegetable oil meets the standard should refer to GB 2762 National Standard for Food Safety, Limit of Pollutants in Food and other standards. However, the types of pollutants listed in GB 2762 National Standard for Food Safety "Limits of Pollutants in Foods" do not include the related ingredients of coal-to-liquid involved in this incident, that is, whether it contains coal-to-liquid is not within the scope of supervision and sampling of edible vegetable oil.
Some people have suggested whether we should consider expanding the types of sampling inspection of edible oil pollutants. In this regard, on July 10, the Economic Observer Network asked the relevant officials of the national food safety standards formulation department, and an official replied: "Normal edible oil should not have mineral oil, and the prevention of edible oil pollution is not to increase testing items, but to prevent pollution caused by illegal transportation. Otherwise, all kinds of vehicles are mixed for illegal transportation, and hundreds of substances may be polluted, so it is impossible to include them in the test.”。
He asked, even if some testing items are added, once the amount of testing is small or the pollutants beyond these testing items can’t be found, can they be considered qualified?
How to be accountable?
How should the behavior of "tanker unloading coal-to-liquid and directly loading edible oil" be held accountable according to laws and regulations?
In this regard, Xu Hao, a lawyer of Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, said that the relevant personnel may bear criminal responsibility for the behavior of "the tanker unloading coal-to-liquid and directly loading edible oil". The law can hold the perpetrator criminally responsible for "producing and selling toxic and harmful food". He said that drivers who use tankers with coal-to-liquid residues to transport edible oil, the shipper, the receiver and the seller are suspected of constituting the Criminal Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC).Article 144 "Whoever adulterates toxic and harmful non-food raw materials into the food produced or sold, or sells food knowingly adulterated with toxic and harmful non-food raw materials".
According to Article 144 of the Criminal Law and the Supplementary Provisions of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security on the Standards for Filing and Prosecution of Criminal Cases under the Jurisdiction of Public Security Organs, "producing and selling toxic and harmful food" refers to the act of "mixing toxic and harmful non-food raw materials into food produced and sold, or selling food that is knowingly mixed with toxic and harmful non-food raw materials".
Xu Hao said that in this incident, the cooking oil was mixed with coal-to-liquids that could not be used as food raw materials, which belonged to the mixing of toxic and harmful non-food raw materials into food; Transporters did not clean the storage tanks after unloading coal-to-liquid oil, but directly loaded edible soybean oil to continue transportation, which was subjective and intentional. Therefore, transporters can be held criminally responsible for "producing and selling toxic and harmful food".
How to define "knowing"? Xu Hao introduced that Article 10 of the Judicial Interpretation of Criminal Cases Endangering Food Safety stipulates: "The’ knowing’ stipulated in Article 144 of the Criminal Law should be determined by integrating subjective and objective factors such as the cognitive ability of the actor, the quality of food, the channels for purchasing or selling goods and the price. Under any of the following circumstances, it can be regarded as’ knowing’ as stipulated in Article 144 of the Criminal Law, except that there is evidence to the contrary and it is verified: (1) Having been engaged in the production, planting, breeding, sales, transportation and storage of related foods and edible agricultural products for a long time and failing to fulfill the obligation of ensuring food safety according to law … "
Xu Hao said that the Code for Bulk Transportation of Edible Vegetable Oil GB/T30354-2013 stipulated specific standards for transporting edible vegetable oil. Sellers and buyers who have been operating in this field for a long time, should be aware of the relevant food safety obligations, should know that the transportation of edible oil to ensure the cleanliness of the tank. If it fails to fulfill its relevant obligations, it constitutes "knowing" as mentioned in the judicial interpretation, and it constitutes "producing and selling toxic and harmful food".
According to the provisions of the Criminal Law, those who constitute this crime shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention, and shall also be fined not less than 50% but not more than two times the sales amount; Whoever causes serious food poisoning accidents or other serious food-borne diseases and causes serious harm to human health shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined not less than 50% but not more than two times the sales amount; Whoever causes death or especially serious harm to human health shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of Article 141 of this Law on the crime of producing and selling counterfeit drugs.
In addition to criminal responsibility, Xu Hao also said that according to the investigation results, the administrative responsibility of relevant personnel should be investigated. The behavior of "tanker unloading coal-to-liquid and directly loading edible oil" violates the Food Safety Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC)., administrative punishment should be imposed.
According to Article 125 of the Food Safety Law, in case of "production and operation of food and food additives contaminated by packaging materials, containers and means of transport", the food safety supervision and administration department of the people’s government at or above the county level shall confiscate the illegal income and food and food additives produced and operated illegally, and may also confiscate tools, equipment, raw materials and other items used for illegal production and operation; If the value of food and food additives illegally produced and operated is less than 10,000 yuan, a fine of 5,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan shall be imposed; If the value of the goods is more than 10,000 yuan, a fine of more than five times and less than ten times the value of the goods shall be imposed; If the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend production or business until the license is revoked.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 126 of the Food Safety Law, if there is a situation that "the license and relevant supporting documents are not inspected at the time of purchase, or the system of incoming inspection records, ex-factory inspection records and sales records is not established and observed as required", the food safety supervision and administration department of the people’s government at or above the county level shall order it to make corrections and give it a warning; Refuses to correct, a fine of five thousand yuan and fifty thousand yuan; If the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend production or business until the license is revoked.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 132 of the Food Safety Law, in violation of the provisions of this Law, food storage, transportation and loading and unloading are not carried out as required, and the food safety supervision and management departments of the people’s governments at or above the county level shall be ordered to make corrections according to their respective responsibilities and give a warning; Refuses to correct, shall be ordered to stop production and business, and impose a fine of ten thousand yuan and fifty thousand yuan; If the circumstances are serious, the license shall be revoked.
Xu Hao said that the definition of toxic and harmful food is based on Article 9 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases Endangering Food Safety.
How to avoid it?
Wang Yue, a professor at the Department of Medical Ethics and Law in Peking University,The key to the implementation of any system is not the intensity of punishment, but the non-immunity, that is, organizations and people who violate the system must be severely punished.. Over time, we can avoid luck and form a belief in the system.
He said that to promote the effective operation of the system, in addition to increasing the supervision of the judicial organs over the power of the administrative organs, the media and the public should also increase the supervision of the administrative power. "Why haven’t you seen such supervision reports for a long time? The supervision of the media should be the woodpecker of society. We need to have the determination of the blade inward, and we should have the confidence of self-reflection and criticism. "
In addition, he also suggested that the whistleblower reward system should be actively established. Illegal acts are often carried out by grass-roots personnel. If the whistle-blower system is established in all supervision fields, the current discovery mechanism will be changed, and the grass-roots personnel will form a game relationship with the managers who command illegal acts.
Wang Yue believes that,In this incident, the driver is the best whistler, and if a reward is set for whistlers, managers will feel scared when directing illegal activities..
Wang Yong, deputy director of the Key Research Center of Service Science and Engineering of Wuhan University of Science and Technology, director and special researcher of China Logistics Society, said that there is no current general specification in the world that explicitly prohibits "transporting edible vegetable oil in mixed tanks", but strict requirements are put forward for the cleaning of oil tanks. In addition, the European Union, the United States, Japan and other advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence are widely used in logistics supervision, which significantly improves the efficiency and accuracy of supervision, establishes a comprehensive food traceability system, and realizes the whole process of recording and tracking from the source of production to the final sales, providing a rapid response mechanism for dealing with food safety issues.
He said that although the use of special tanks to transport edible oil may lead to an increase in transportation costs, food safety is the first priority, and circulation costs cannot give way to food safety. From the perspective of food safety, special tank transportation can effectively avoid cross-contamination between different types of oil products, and also help to enhance the overall image of the logistics industry and enhance consumers’ confidence in food safety.
He suggested that government departments should strengthen the supervision of edible oil transportation, severely investigate and deal with violations, and ensure the effective implementation of various standards and requirements.
