Do you worry about "gutter oil"?
Sep 10th, 2014, 05:19 PM
#1
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Do you worry about "gutter oil"?
If you haven't seen this discussed:
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...eads-hong-kong
http://time.com/3300093/taiwan-gutte...ucks-7-eleven/
"gutter oil — a potentially harmful blend of oil extracted from food waste, offal and the byproducts of tanneries."
I've never been too worried when eating overseas, even from street vendors. Nor have I given more than a moment's thought to food safety at restaurants anywhere, and I've survived quite nicely.
But I am wondering now about fried food in Hong Kong. Even if they don't use "gutter oil", maybe it's still gross? Would this change your eating habits on a trip to HK? Should I just try to forget about it?
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...eads-hong-kong
http://time.com/3300093/taiwan-gutte...ucks-7-eleven/
"gutter oil — a potentially harmful blend of oil extracted from food waste, offal and the byproducts of tanneries."
I've never been too worried when eating overseas, even from street vendors. Nor have I given more than a moment's thought to food safety at restaurants anywhere, and I've survived quite nicely.
But I am wondering now about fried food in Hong Kong. Even if they don't use "gutter oil", maybe it's still gross? Would this change your eating habits on a trip to HK? Should I just try to forget about it?
Sep 11th, 2014, 03:23 AM
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Well, it's always good to be careful. You know what they say: better safe than sorry. Try reading up about restaurants in places you're gonna be: reviews, opinions, their pages and then make a plan of places safe to it in and those to avoid. I would definitely avoid eating from unknown source.
Sep 11th, 2014, 07:32 AM
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I've never worried about eating in Hong Kong, but then I don't eat street food. But in mainland China, the least of your problems is gutter oil - the Chinese have regularly shipped spoiled foods to major corporations (like McDonalds - I don't eat there either!).
Sep 11th, 2014, 08:59 AM
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I can understand the arguments against street food, but in this case, the gutter oil products were going to Starbucks among other places. I suppose spoiled food is worse, and I did read about that too.
Sep 11th, 2014, 09:45 AM
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Most food in China won't kill you quickly. But assume a lot (meaning a significant portion but DOES NOT MEAN "most" ) of food contain harmful stuff. Not an issue really for travellers, but if someone's considering moving to China, especially with young children, it's really something to think about.
