Kentucky Fried Chicken, the US fast food giant has again sparked
food safety concerns around China, with its outlets being accused
of repeatedly using same frying oil for as many as 10 days, which
experts believe may cause cancer.
The Guangzhou-based Information Times reports that KFC
branches in some cities in northwest Shaanxi Province have been discovered putting
Magnesium Trisilicate into frying oil to prolong its usage.
Magnesium Trisilicate is a white, odorless and tasteless powder,
which can decolorize and absorb the odor and some impurities of the
overused turbid oil, as well as reducing its acidity and
oxidization. After being "polished," the cooking oil is used over
and over again for up to 10 days by some KFC outlets in Xianyang
City, Shaanxi Province.
However, the KFC Corp (China) claimed on Thursday that the
overused oil is concern-free as it is in compliance with the
national food safety standard. It argues that the "oil purifier" is
approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as a safe aide
substance. Experts with the World Health Organization and Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nation all agree that the
powder purifier can be used as food additive. KFC Corp (China)
argues it will stop using it the time it is found to breach China's
food safety standard.
Despite KFC's defense, food experts have not yet being convinced
as they believe that even if their additive itself is safe,
repeatedly used oil is no longer safe. Harmful substances will be
produced after being heated time after time. Acrylamide and
Benzopyrene, for instance, could always be two types of harmful
side-products from frying French fries and chickens. These two side
products are widely believed to cause cancer.
Health authorities in Xianyang, Yulin, and Xi'an, three local
cities of Shaanxi Province, have inspected KFC outlets and
confiscated their "oil powder". The provincial health
administration has also reported the case to the Health Ministry
for further investigation.
In similar response, local health authority of southern China's
Guangzhou, has also decided to inspect cooking oils in all KFC
outlets in the city.
This is the third time KFC has been involved in food safety
panic in China. In March 2005, Sudan I, a kind of carcinogenic food
dye, was discovered in New Orleans roast chicken wings, a popular
food produced by KFC. Last November, KFC's safety scare emerged
again in China after KFC outlets in the US were found to be using
artificial fats although KFC Corp (China) said then it cooked its
fried chickens in a healthier edible oil, which did not contain the
harmful trans-fatty acids used in US branches of KFC.
(CRI March 10, 2007)