Here we go with more stuff in the mainstream media. Some of the players are the same here in Canada. These are just glimpses into the complicated food system that has developed in North America. I think that is the largest shock to most consumers. They had no idea.-CGProduction trumps quality Apr 28, 2007 04:30 AM
China faces growing concerns over its exports in wake of tainted pet food, milk
Ariana Eunjung Cha Special to the Star
SHANGHAI–Something was wrong with the babies.
The villagers noticed their heads were growing abnormally large while the rest of their bodies were skin and bones. By the time Chinese authorities discovered the culprit – severe malnutrition from fake milk powder – 13 had died.
The scandal, which unfolded three years ago after hundreds of babies fell ill in an eastern Chinese province, became the defining symbol of a broad problem in China's economy.
Quality control and product-safety regulation are so poor in this country that people cannot trust the goods on store shelves.
Until now, the problem has not received much attention outside of China. In recent weeks, however, consumers everywhere have been learning about China's safety crisis. Tainted ingredients that originated here made their way into pet food that has sickened and killed animals around the world, with nearly 4,000 deaths reported in the United States.
Chinese authorities acknowledge the safety problem and have promised repeatedly to fix it, but the disasters keep coming. Tang Yanli, 45, grandaunt of a baby who became sick because of the fake milk but eventually recovered, said that even though she now pays more to buy national brands, she remains wary.
"I don't trust the food I eat," she said. With China playing an ever-larger role in supplying food, medicine and animal feed to other countries, recognition of the hazards has not kept up.
By value, China is the world's No. 1 exporter of fruits and vegetables, and a major exporter of other food and food products, which vary widely, from apple juice to garlic to sausage casings.
China has been especially poor at meeting international standards.
The United States subjects only a small fraction of its food imports to close inspection, but each month rejects about 200 shipments from China, mostly because of concerns about pesticides and antibiotics and about misleading labelling.
Since 2000, some countries have temporarily banned whole categories of Chinese imports. The European Union stopped shipments of shrimp because of banned antibiotics. Japan blocked tea and spinach, citing excessive antibiotic residue. South Korea banned fermented cabbage after finding parasites in some shipments.
As globalization of the food supply progresses, "the food gets more anonymous and gradually you get into a situation where you don't know where exactly it came from and you get more vulnerable to poor quality," said Michiel Keyzer, director of the Centre for World Food Studies at Vrije University in Amsterdam, who researches China's exports to the European Union.
Chinese authorities, while conceding the country has many safety problems, have claimed other countries' assessments of products are sometimes "not accurate" and have implied the bans may be politically motivated, aimed at protecting domestic companies that compete with Chinese businesses.
China's State Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture – which along with other government agencies share responsibility for monitoring food and drug safety – this week declined to answer written questions sent to them via fax.
In the United States, more than 100 brands of pet food have been recalled since March 16 because of a spike in animal deaths, generally from kidney failure. The recall, one of the largest ever, included mass-market brands sold in stores like Safeway and Wal-Mart, as well as pricey brands sold by veterinarians and specialty retailers.
The FDA and a manufacturer in South Africa have found that several bulk ingredients shipped from China, including wheat gluten and rice-protein concentrate, were contaminated with an industrial chemical called melamine.
Last week, concern about animal safety transformed into a concern about risk to people.
California state officials said the industrial chemical melamine had been found in livestock feed at a hog farm and could pose a "minimal" health risk to people who ate pork from there.
The investigations are unearthing details of the food chain that were previously a mystery to most Americans, including the international dealings that determine how ingredients make their way into the food supply. U.S. companies are under relentless pressure to cut costs, in part from consumers who demand low prices, and obtaining cheap ingredients from China has become an important strategy for many of them.
In China, meanwhile, the government has found that companies have cut corners in virtually every aspect of food production and packaging, including improper use of fertilizer, unsanitary packing and poor refrigeration of dairy products.
William O'Brien, president of Hami Food of Beijing, which transports food for the McDonald's restaurant chain and other multinational companies in China, said in some of his competitors' operations, "chilled and frozen products very often come in taxi cabs or in vans – not under properly controlled conditions."
The Chinese government has undertaken a major overhaul of its monitoring system by dispatching state inspectors to every province.
