Cooking oil using non-genetically modified crops on display at an agriculture exhibition in Beijing on April 19 Photo: IC

Chinese cooking oil giant Yihai Kerry Arawana refuted rumors that genetically modified (GM) oil ingredient has entered the Chinese market.

The company said that some media reports alleging that the company has imported genetically engineered oil ingredients without placing a mark to notify consumers are untrue, according to an announcement issued by the company on Saturday.

The statement comes after Chinese inspection agency detected genetically modified ingredients on a batch of imported rapeseed oil from the company.

In August, Yihai Kerry Arawana ordered a batch of virgin rapeseed oil from oil-crushing company LLP EFKO Kazakhstan and the purchase contract required non-genetically modified rapeseed oil. However, Chinese inspection agency detected genetically modified ingredients on the imports, the statement read.

"Yihai Kerry returned the batch of the oil to the shipper instead of importing it into China, in accordance with China's customs regulation," the statement read.

Yihai Kerry is best known for its Arawana brand cooking oil which has been in the Chinese market since 1991. In 2019, Yihai Kerry accounted for nearly 40 percent of China's small package edible plant oil market, according to Nielsen data.