A restaurant in Sichuan, China, is under the scanner after it was discovered that they were using 'saliva oil' to cook food. The term 'saliva oil' refers to the leftover chilli oil soups of diners, which were not disposed of but instead mixed with new oil to make hotpot soup for subsequent customers. The Nanchong Market Regulation Administration in Sichuan province reported on December 2, 2024, that it had busted a hotpot restaurant for recycling "old oil," South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Following an investigation, authorities seized 11.54 kilos of recycled beef tallow, a key ingredient in Sichuan and Chongqing spicy hotpot. The recycled oil was confiscated, and the case was handed over to the local police for further investigation. China's Food Safety Law, which came into effect in 2009, prohibits the reuse of leftover food ingredients.
According to SCMP, the restaurant owner admitted to extracting chilli oil from diners' leftover soup bases since September 2024, mixing it with new oil to "enhance the flavour" and "improve business performance."
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While reusing leftover food is banned, several social media users in mainland China revealed that mixing old oil with new oil has long been a common practice in hotpot restaurants to boost flavour.
"It's an open secret among local diners, yet we still visit hotpot restaurants because the hotpot without old oil just isn't as tasty," wrote one user from Chongqing. "The reason packaged hotpot soup base isn't as good as what you get in restaurants is the recycled oil," another user from Sichuan commented.
A third user labelled the practice unsafe, stating, "The risk of contracting infectious diseases from recycled food materials is too great."
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