THE news about a testing company’s discovery that gutter oil was being used in several canteens at Shenzhen University (SZU) sparked heated discussion among students and teachers, but the university has raised doubt over the authenticity of the company’s test and made a report to police Tuesday, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

    In its latest statement made Tuesday, SZU questioned the authenticity of the testing company known as Jianhe Oil Testing, which released a food quality report Dec. 10, suggesting that some SZU canteens might have used gutter oil for cooking.

    The university’s logistics department carried out an internal investigation and issued a statement Saturday saying that the cooking oil used by SZU was from certified companies, which had won biddings.

    The university said that nothing abnormal about the food oil used at the university canteens was found during two sample inspections that took place in September and November.

    The latest statement also accused Deng Pingjian, the CEO and chief inspector of Jianhe Oil Testing, of distorting the facts. The university said that it had already reported the case to police and would wait for the truth to be revealed.

    Deng did not deny the authenticity of the quality report, which went viral on the Internet and said that it was a secret inspection study given by the Shenzhen Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

    Since Deng had signed a confidential agreement with the FDA, he could not reveal any details about the inspection and he did not know how the results would be posted online.

    “The study was mainly a service for the residents and a collection of evidence as well as data for the governmental department,” said Deng.

    Deng also said that when they arrived at the SZU canteens, their inspectors identified themselves to a staff member of the university who accompanied the inspectors throughout the inspection.

    However, Deng’s statement irritated the university. “We are talking very seriously about this incident, because we had checked all the canteens and none of them had ever been inspected by the Jianhe Testing Company,” said Jiang Junpeng, the deputy director of the university’s logistics department.

    The logistics department said that it had already reported its doubts to the FDA and asked them to respond regarding the cooperative inspection study mentioned by the testing company, but they have not received a response yet. (Zhang Qian)