The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (the department) is aware of reports in international media asserting that cooking oil has been transported in the same trucks that are used to transport fuel and other chemicals.

The department can confirm that Australia imports significant quantities of oils that could be considered a ‘cooking oil’ from China. While one company in China is named in the media reports (Sinograin), it is currently unclear how many producers and oils may be impacted by the contamination concern.

The department sought information from the relevant competent authority in China, via our Agriculture Counsellor in Beijing, on the safety of cooking oils exported to Australia and have received a response from the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC). In this response GACC has confirmed:

• the Chinese government attaches great importance to the issue of cooking oil being contaminated and the relevant departments are investigating
• there have been no reported cases of consumers becoming sick from consuming potentially contaminated cooking oils
• exports to Australia of oil from China in 2023 and the first half of 2024 are all pre-packaged refined edible vegetable oils for direct sales, rather than vegetable oils transported by oil tankers and exports complied with the relevant requirements for exporting food.

The Department has asked our Counsellor in Beijing to keep abreast of this issue and we will continue to provide updates if any new information becomes available. We encourage industry to continue to seek assurances from suppliers on the safety of cooking oils sourced from China.