On the afternoon of July 8th, mainland netizens revealed that the edible oil brands under the China Grain Reserves Corporation (Sinograin) flagship store, Jin Ding Tao Bao, have been taken offline. Some believe that the removal of Jin Ding edible oils may be related to the recent incident of mixing oil tanks in Sinograin tanker transportation. This news quickly made it to the top searches on Baidu on July 9th.
According to a report from the Jinan Daily News Group’s official account “Xin Huanghe Client” on July 8th, the discontinued products include sunflower seed oil, corn germ oil, olive oil, sesame oil, and other edible oils under the Jin Ding brand.
When asked by “Xin Huanghe Client” if the removal of edible oils is related to the recent incident of oil tank mixing in Sinograin tanker transportation, Jin Ding customer service replied that the specific reasons are unclear.
Some netizens have expressed the opinion that the removal of edible oils under Sinograin’s brand may indeed be connected to the incident of mixing oil tanks in Sinograin tanker transportation.
An earlier report by the mainland media, “The Beijing News,” mentioned that two tankers that had just unloaded coal-based oils were able to load edible oils without cleaning the tanks beforehand. The edible oil companies involved were Huifuliang Grain and Oil Group and China Grain and Oil (Tianjin) Co., Ltd.
The report also pointed out that many general cargo tankers in China transport liquids that are not fixed, handling edible liquids such as syrup and soybean oil, as well as chemicals like coal-based oils. Due to cost-saving measures, many tankers do not clean the tanks during cargo turnover, and some edible oil manufacturers do not strictly check whether the tanks are clean according to regulations, leading to contamination of edible oils by residual chemicals.
On July 8th, Jiemian News analyzed the distribution of these edible oils. The report stated that the two companies involved are in the middle of the edible oil production and processing industry chain, connecting upstream companies that import oilseed crops and oil crops with downstream sectors like packaging, transportation, and sales.
The oil from these companies reaches consumers through two main channels: bulk sales to customers who are typically small to medium-sized edible oil packaging factories, which then sell bottled edible oils to consumers, or direct packaging into bottled edible oil sold to consumers through their own brands via channels and distributors.
A source within the edible oil processing industry, who preferred to remain anonymous, revealed to Jiemian News that in the industry, the use of vehicles falls into two categories: company-owned fleets and outsourced fleets. Safety issues are theoretically the responsibility of the “inspection parties.”
Outsourced fleets operate in unsupervised conditions. When a company hires a lax outsourced fleet and pairs it with a manufacturer that neglects safety checks, mixed loading of goods can occur, which could be a possible reason for the current situation involving Huifuliang and Sinograin (Tianjin).
The news of Jin Ding’s edible oils being taken offline sparked discussions among Baidu users. One user, “Red Dust All Customers,” expressed doubt, asking who would still buy Sinograin’s oils in the future.
Another user, “Ji Ying 4,” believed that these edible oils will likely be repackaged and sold again, as people have already been avoiding Sinograin products for a long time and will now be even more cautious.
User “Jianghu 0612110” stated: “Even if removed from shelves, they will be brought back to the warehouse, change the production date, and then put them back on the shelves unchanged!”
Baidu user 8ybycx4 remarked: “The market supervision bureau seems quite indifferent.”
User “Yuan Dan Tou” questioned: “With such a significant food safety issue, what are the relevant government departments doing?”
Baidu user 5266651 commented: “Such a major food safety issue, yet no investigation has been initiated!”