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The Making Of 'Gutter Oil'

R

Radio Free Asia

Documentaries

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Cited on HN 4 times, 2018–2025, never outright recommended score 0

Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Cited as a documentary look at gutter oil and as an example of restaurant cost-cutting and food safety problems.

A Radio Free Asia report from its China food safety series on how "gutter oil" is recovered from sewers and waste and sold on to cheap restaurants and street vendors.

3 citations · 1 jokes · Documentaries

Environment, agriculture & food systemsMedia, journalism & propagandaCooking & food Documentaries Earth, Energy & Environment

4 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

K

@keketi Nov 2018 Cites it

on HN thread In China, Desperate Patients Smuggle Drugs or Make Their Own

When I saw a video[1] about Chinese gutter oil, I didn't believe something as repulsive could exist. I was wrong. [1] [this video]

Documentary look at how gutter oil is produced

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B

@beardog Mar 2019 Cites it

on HN thread In Beijing, it’s often cheaper to have food delivered than to get it yourself

Such as using Gutter Oil (not limited to delivery), a practice where cooking oil is retrieved/derived from random unsafe sources such as sewers, a practice thought to be common in parts of China: [link] [this video]

Shows gutter oil recovery from unsafe sources

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C

@cma May 2020 Cites it

on HN thread Why Restaurants Are So Fucked

This video is funded by he American government so I'm not sure how biased it is, but it shows a cost cutting measure (gutter oil): [this video]

Shows gutter oil as a cost cutting measure

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J

@joecool1029 Dec 2025 Makes a joke

on HN thread Multiple Indicted on Charges of Theft and Re-Sale of Restaurant Cooking Oil

>It's not toxic per se, but you can't just dump it down the drain. That's what the gutter is for: [this video]

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