Controversial 'saliva oil' lands restaurant under investigation after customer tip-off

A restaurant has found itself in hot water with authorities after a diner tip-off uncovered a huge ‘saliva oil’ controversy in its kitchen.

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the unnamed Sichuan hotpot restaurant has been punished by the local government over its used of ‘old oil’.

While the practice is banned by law, some people in parts of China believe it’s something that can help improve flavour.

The Nanchong Market Regulation Administration, in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, said it discovered that the restaurant had been using leftover oil and adding it to its hotpot soup base.

The so-called ‘saliva oil’ was created by recycling the used chilli oil from diners’ meals and mixing it with new oil to serve to later customers.

Stock image of Sichuan boiling hotpot (plej92/Getty Images)

Government officials, who were tipped off by a punter, conducted an investigation into the restaurant and seized 11.54 kilos of recycled beef tallow – one of the ingredients in the local spicy hotpot – from its kitchen.

The owner, surnamed Chen, said the restaurant had, indeed, been taking leftover oil from the remnants of diners’ soups and mixing it with fresh oil.

Defending the controversial practice, he admitted staff had been doing this since September, both to ‘improve the soup’s flavour’ and to ‘mend’ the ‘dismal business’.

However, under China’s Food Safety Law from 2009, the reuse of leftover ingredients is strictly banned.

Mind you, not everyone feels it should be, with SCMP quoting a number of social media users who understood the cultural significance of using old oils in fresh dishes.

The restaurant had been mixing old oil with new oil (Weibo)

“It is an open secret among local diners, yet we still go to hotpot restaurants because the hotpot without old oil is not delicious,” one person from Chongqing wrote.

Another agreed: “The reason why the packaged hotpot soup base is not as delicious as that in the restaurants is the recycled oil.”

A third also felt open-minded about the use of leftover oil, but felt it should be ‘filtered and heated at a high temperature’ to be considered acceptable.

Someone else added: "The risk of catching infectious disease from recycled food material is unbearable.”

After the ‘saliva oil’ was confiscated from the restaurant, the case was handed over to the local police department for investigation.