The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

AN investigation into the alleged collection of "gutter oil" by a Chinese restaurant worker in New Providence has revealed that the worker in question was instead skimming the restaurant's malfunctioning grease trap to prevent it from overflowing, Director of Environmental Health Melanie McKenzie said yesterday.

Ms McKenzie, in an interview with The Tribune almost a month after the investigation was launched, said the actions of the worker in question "had nothing to do with" what was speculated to have taken place in the video that was widely shared on social media, insisting that the worker opted to skim the grease trap after failed attempts by the restaurant to have it repaired.

Nonetheless, Ms McKenzie further explained that the grease trap has since been repaired, a full inspection of the restaurant to deal with "all the other conditions" has been completed and all issues are "rectified at this moment".

Her statements came after earlier concerns that the worker in question was allegedly engaging in the illegal Chinese practice of collecting "gutter oil"--an illicit cooking oil that has been recycled from waste oil collected from sources such as restaurant fryers, grease traps, slaughterhouse waste and sewerage from sewer drains.

A video of the incident went viral on social media last month, showing a man alleged to be a worker at the restaurant in question caught on camera using a large spoon to scoop what appeared to be a puddle of refuse into a large, yellow container.

At the time, senior officials at the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) told The Tribune that the incident was being treated as an "urgent matter" for officials, and that it would be forwarded to the department's Health Inspectorate. Still, the incident gained significant traction on social media.

When asked for an update on the investigation yesterday, Ms McKenzie said DEHS officials had made three visits to the restaurant in question, the first two of which were to investigate the matter at hand, and the last one serving as a follow-up visit to conduct a "complete inspection".

She said the department found nothing untoward about the restaurant's actions.

"The problem when we checked it really and truly was nothing to do with what the (video) purported," she said. "And what the person was doing was skimming it. They skim the grease trap if it's not working so it doesn't overflow. The grease trap was pumped, it's working, and we had done a full inspection to deal with all the other conditions and they are all rectified at this moment."