The company also stated that it had made unspecified recalls of the oil products March 20 and April 22, in addition to 22.361 tons of the oil at the company's warehouse sealed by the Hunan quality control authority, which also recalled 11.152 tons of the product. Jinhao did not specify the whereabouts of the nine tons of tainted oil in the statement.

"Customers can contact our company anytime to return or change the products from the nine batches," an assistant to Jinhao's spokesman told the Global Times Thursday.

Local authorities have also been accused of keeping the public in the dark. Beijing News quoted one unnamed official as saying that the reason for this was to maintain social stability. Hunan Province's quality watchdog never informed the public of its recall decision.

"Camellia oil is not cheap for ordinary people, but I have to throw it away without even knowing whether it is harmful to my health. I wasn't even told whether the oil I bought is on the recall list," Chen Yahui, a Changsha resident, told the Global Times Thursday.

An official from the State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine told the Global Times that local authorities reacted quickly in recalling the products, but failed to inform the public in time.

"The BaP level was five times higher than the national standard, but does not pose a high risk to people's health as the general limit is much higher in China," he said.

All products made by Jinhao have been removed from the shelves in Beijing's major su-permarkets, such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Wumart.