JINHUA, China, May 5 (UPI) -- Chinese officials arrested 20 members of a gang suspected of manufacturing and selling "gutter oil" in Zhejiang province Saturday.
The Wucheng district procuratorate in the city of Jinhua told Xinhua news agency the leader of the gang was Li Weijian and his wife Xu Xiaoqing. Li and Xu had allegedly been using cooking waste to produce and sell gutter oil since 2005.
Li's gang turned a profit of $1.6 million in 2011 alone, officials said.
Gutter oil is made by repurposing kitchen waste, spent cooking oil, or rancid fat into recycled cooking oil, which is sold to kitchens and food wholesalers. Officials have declared the oil unfit for human consumption, as it may contain carcinogens. The Ministry of Public Security announced a crackdown on the practice in April.
