China jails restaurant staff for serving hotpot leftovers

The individuals, including an owner and a manager, were previously sentenced to between one to 12 years in prison for "producing and selling unwholesome food," China Daily reported on Wednesday, citing a source from the People's Court Daily.

The restaurant was also fined 5 million yuan (US$702,000) for "the illicit recycling of waste cooking oil served to unsuspecting diners," and was forced to make a public apology to diners, the court ruled.

According to the indictment, Ruchuan Beef Tripe Hotpot Restaurant in Huainan’s Panji District repeatedly used oil collected from leftover broths to make "new" meals for diners.

The restaurant’s owner and chief manager ordered chefs, kitchen staff and table managers to collect broth after customers’ meals between 2019 and 2021.

They then filtered out food scraps and recycled the oil by adding it to the broth the following day, the indictment said.

The restaurant, which opened in April 2017, had sold approximately 65,000 broths worth 1.7 million yuan (US$240,000), until their illegal activities were uncovered in 2021, The Strait Times reported.

This was not the first time Chinese authorities have cracked down on restaurants violating food safety regulations.

Earlier, a manager and two chefs at a restaurant in Sichuan Province were jailed from five to 10 years, and were also hit with fines of 13.7 million yuan for using oil in leftover hotpot broths to serve diners.