Recently, the incident of using oil tankers for transporting edible oil has sparked heated discussions on mainland Chinese social media. People have uncovered information showing that such practices have existed for many years, even more than a decade ago, leading to public questioning about why the authorities did not take action.
On July 9th, the topic of “Poisoning by Tankers Over 9 Years Ago” trended on social media platforms in mainland China.
Netizens in China revealed that as early as 2015, a news program called “Truth Investigation” on Hunan Urban and Economic TV received tips that in cities like Hengyang and Yongzhou in Hunan province, many tankers used for transporting highly corrosive chemicals would load other goods directly after to save costs and avoid returning empty.
People on social media condemned this behavior, questioning why such “poisoning actions” could continue to exist for over 9 years without being exposed if not for the coverage by media like the New Beijing News recently.
On the 2nd of this month, the New Beijing News reported that after a long investigation, their journalists found that many tankers in China were not only transporting edible liquids like syrup and soybean oil but also chemicals like coal-made oil. To save costs, many tankers did not clean the tanks during the cargo change, leading to contamination of edible oil by residual chemical liquids. The report revealed instances where tankers that previously carried coal-made oil from Ningxia to Qinhuangdao in Hebei did not wash the tanks before loading edible soybean oil for further transportation.
Tanker drivers disclosed that the mixing of food-grade liquids and chemicals in tanker transportation has been an open secret in the industry.
Due to the harmful components in coal-made oil that could harm human health and impair blood function, the public called this practice a “poisoning behavior.” Surprisingly, some people found that this “poisoning behavior” was already detected as early as 2005.
One netizen, “The Bishop’s Polg Long,” said, “It was already happening in 2005, are you shocked or not surprised? It might have been even earlier, but due to less developed communication channels, no one knew.”
“Watching the Swing WakaWaka” commented, “The media revealed it in 2005, a generation grew up eating coal-made oil.”
Moreover, “Promise of Warmth in Winter” revealed, “It was exposed in 2011.”
Back in 2013, the official website of the government of Hengyang City in Hunan province published an article cracking down on the illegal transportation of edible oil, particularly using chemical tankers to transport food oil or using edible oil tankers to transport chemical products.
Netizens left comments condemning the authorities for not taking action despite the problem being discovered so long ago.
“Titanic Jack”: Posting articles alone, who will execute? Who will supervise?
“Non-Calm Potato Flood”: The true colors of the officialdom, just for show, do you really think we’ll make an effort?
“ANNNNNDYCHEN_”: Just talking the talk.
“axl_6”: You finish your part, then I’ll take the stage.
Some netizens said, “Don’t just focus on what they say, pay attention to what they do. Put an end to empty promises.”