China Shuts 180 Food Factories

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Associated Press

China Shuts 180 Food Factories

Wednesday June 27, 1:38 AM EDT

BEIJING (AP) — China has closed 180 food factories after inspectors found industrial chemicals being used in products from candy to seafood, state media said Wednesday.

The closures came amid a nationwide crackdown on shoddy and dangerous products launched in December that also uncovered use of recycled or expired food, the China Daily said.

Formaldehyde, illegal dyes, and industrial wax were found being used to make candy, pickles, crackers and seafood, it said, citing Han Yi, an official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, which is responsible for food safety.

"These are not isolated cases," Han, director of the administration's quality control and inspection department, was quoted as saying.


Read more: http://money.excite.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt_top.jsp?news_id=ap-d8q0vg4g0&

[wakeme2008]

1. I bet all the products are on sell at Walmart (+ nom

:grr:

[htuttle]

2. "...also uncovered use of recycled or expired food"

Um, isn't 'recycled food' better known as 'shit'?

[ozymandius]

3. Ewww.

Is that imitation chocolate coloring?

[disndat]

45. maybe animal 'digestif'

as ingredient listed in cat food, like "Purina Meow Mix:

[Igel]

64. Yes. Think cheese spread or American cheese. Recycled cheese. n/t

[Nikia]

65. Industry standard for processed cheese includes some recycled cheese

If it wasm't, they wouldn't make any money. Processed cheese is heat treated though and had never been linked to any food related illness outbreak. I doubt that the U.S. is importing processed cheese from China anyway.

[Vinca]

4. $3.99 a lb. tilapia from China is featured prominently at the grocery store

where I shop and it sells like hotcakes. I hate to think what the people are eating. (Yes, I did tell the fish manager about the poultry cages over the fish ponds. At least he's not eating the stuff.)

[eowyn_of_rohan]

7. Would that be considered "organic" fish farming?

Ewww... wonder what those chickens are eating

[Lasher]

38. I think the chickens are eating the poison pet food they had to take off the shelves.

It would be bad for business to just throw the stuff away, ya know.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

69. Now that I think of it...

That last Chinese shrimp I bought had a dog food and chicken poop taste. I don't think I will ever buy Chinese shrimp again. Besides--the Gulf coast shrimp fisherman need our support!! Wild, U.S. gulf shrimp is way better anyway, and worth a few extra dollars for so many reasons.

[formercia]

12. Bird Flu Sushi

YUM!!!!

[AlecBGreen]

19. poultry cages over fish ponds

are a GOOD thing if done properly. That means 1) sufficient water depth and light 2) small amounts of antibiotics/chemicals used on the chickens and 3) basic sanitation standards. On the small scale (rural China) this is a great way to increase food production. On the industrial scale ... *shudder* ... Lets just say I'd be happy to pay $1 more per pound and eat American.

[Doremus]

22. Wow, $3.99/lb. You just KNOW that's some adulterated, contaminated garbage.

The poultry cages over the ponds sound tame compared to the farmers raising fish in bodies of water contaminated with pesticides, chemicals and god knows what other runoff from their large (and mega-polluting) manufacturing base. It's amazing they don't glow in the dark.

Can you tell I wouldn't touch that "tilapia" with rubber gloves?

[Theres-a]

33. I know!!!!!!!!

I started reading fish labels,and it's hard to find product of usa. Any thoughts on Chile or Ecuador?

[hogwyld]

34. So how much is the Soylent Green on sale for?

I like it much better than the Soylent Red that they usually have....:silly:

[jeff30997]

35. LOL!

:rofl:

[kurth]

5. "These are not isolated cases"

Damn right.

[JackCo]

6. Does anyone else wonder

that one of the reasons for so many cancer cases nowadays is related to this type of thing. I know there are many factors with different types of cancers but for me all the junk both legal and illegal that is going into our food stand out often. Plus look at how teenagers are maturing faster now. Imo that could be from all the hormones shot into food. Just my 2 cents.

[blondie58]

8. I do worry about that- China wants to make $$$, at any cost

We will find out what the long term repurcussions of this diet will be. It bothers me how MUCH junk comes from China and how it is not always obvious, even after reading the label.

But a big welcome to DU, JackCO! You will find a wealth of information here. Not too long ago, during the pet food scandal, there were several excellent postings about our food and the relationship to China.

[heliarc]

24. I'm not sure why you all think the Chinese are to blame.

I thought that American companies outsourced a lot to China in order to make a lot of money too. I blame US and Chinese greed both for not putting in safeguards.

[kath]

27. yep - US companies to blame too. When one of their pesticides is banned in the US, they just turn

around and sell it to third world countries, who spray it on crops there, then the produce comes back here and ends up in our food supply anyway. What a beautiful system!!

China is still using DDT (!!) for dog's sake. Not sure where that's being manufactured...

[femrap]

23. I agree with you....

all of the chemicals sprayed on our food supply and then added directly to the processed food...plus all the chemicals put into the livestock we eat. Oh yeah..this sh*t causes cancer. And I believe Big Biz knows it....so all of our research funds goes into TREATING/CURING the cancer instead of stopping its cause.

Just look at aspartame.

And welcome to DU!

[kbqr]

37. And Obesity and Autism

On top of cancer, no doubt whatever chemicals and genetically modified corn syrup are causing the rapid rise in obesity. I can't believe three year olds are getting obese because of 'sedentary lifestyles' as the media likes to suggest. Have you ever tried keeping a toddler from running around the house like a little maniac? Also, all the coal plants producing energy to power the factories building cheap goods for Walmart shoppers are spewing out mercury vapours which are landing in California . . . hence the 'epidemic' of autism there.

[AndreaCG]

41. However, American teenagers are shortr than their European peers

The Europeans probably eat cleaner food and in season.

[candice]

53. Fast food = fat people who are undernourished and unhealthy

[candice]

49. Also, our corporate-bought Congress doesn't regulate what is in cosmetics--

or personal care products. Check out www.cosmeticdatabase.com to find out if what your skin is absorbing is contributing to cancer. Stop funding optional wars and fund the FDA.

[Highway61]

9. Oh Yeah

Went to the store this week here in Jersey...had scallops on sale for $2.99 a pound. When I got there they were the baby "bay" scallops. The large ones were $12.99 and pure white. The $2.99 were brown. I asked where the two came from. The baby "browns" were from China, the expensive white ones were from USA. So I said "China isn't clean by any sense of the word" and he became indignant! Told me "what difference does it make...they are all "farmed" anyway". Here is a 20 something trying to condone, not just an import, but food safety. These folks aren't just drinking Kool Aid anymore....they're eating tainted food and when they get sick, have no health insurance to speak of! UGH!!!! :banghead:

[underpants]

10. Yeah suuuuuure they did

uh-huh

Sorry I don't believe it

[Highway61]

11. Right?

That report came from their "state" TV! Don't believe it either. Trust but VERIFY.... Hellooo? Also, why are they allowing the olympics to be held there? Just on the latest news on tainting of foods from pet food on, they should have yanked that venue.

[underpants]

13. Welcome to DU

:hi:

Did you know Dylan had an album with that highway in the name?

Well DID YOU?

:bounce::rofl: just kidding.

They are hosting the olympics because pretty much everyone owes them money (they own about 1/16th of our national debt) or they buy so much crap from them that they HAVE to do what they say. It's gonna be a real bitch when the communists win at this capitalist thing.

[Highway61]

15. "Your a riot Alice...a real riot".....

Think I like Dylan? not....I LOVE Dylan.
now......underpants???? I'm not even gonna go there ;)

[rfranklin]

14. People's Business Concil of China announces opening of...

180 new food production facilities which will replace old food facilities formerly located at same locations! This is the miracle of the People's Republic of China!

[candice]

54. And the commies who bribe most will be in charge...hope they can install toilets

for their employees...those public trenches that serve as toilets just aren't sanitary.

[kath]

28. Yes - why the hell are the Olympics being held in such a country, with all their human

rights abuses, safety issues, etc, etc.

[valerief]

29. They should be held in the US instead? With all its rights abuses,

safety issues, etc, etc?

Wherever a few people are getting fantastically wealthy and most people are getting poorer and poorer is not the place where the Olympics should be held.

[kath]

30. Good point - sadly, the US is rapidly joining the ranks of third world nations and

repressive regimes.

We're not as bad as China (yet), but we're so far behind the Yurpeens in so many areas that it's really pathetic...

And in terms of income distribution, we've gone back to the days of the robber barons.

Granting China "Most Favored Nation" status was a huge mistake.

[Drunken Irishman]

40. Well with how f'd we are, we're not in China's league in that regard.

China is in a world of its own in terms of safety issues and human rights abuses.

[valerief]

44. You don't think the Chinese eat that tainted food, do you? No, they ship it

to us, because our gummint doesn't give a $hit about us. And we've got all that gun violence that doesn't do squat for Merka's safety record. If we had safety here, New Orleans would have had a proper levee system.

[Drunken Irishman]

48. Hm, I don't recall ever saying we were safe.

Just better off than those living in China.

But maybe you think I'm wrong, though I can gaurantee you no one in China is allowed to surf a website called "Democratic" Underground.

[candice]

55. 300,000,000 Chinese suffer from food poisoning each year!

That's equivalent to the entire U.S. population. Making a fast buck here or there doesn't matter when there are no regulations, no environmental laws enforced, no concern for public safety. The fact that the U.S. FDA is so underfunded shows that our corporate-run government doesn't care about our public safety either.

[jmowreader]

36. In this case I'd definitely trust state TV

In China there is a centuries-old tradition of not trusting anything you don't see with your own two eyes. Maybe millennia-old.

This is why China is the only country in the world with white-collar capital crimes. There's a long history of Chinese people making runs on banks if they get even a little bit twitchy.

I see a similar mechanism at work here. The Chinese government wants its citizens to buy packaged food and support that industry, but if the Chinese people see all this shit about melamine in wheat gluten (a MAJOR source of protein for a large part of the Chinese population), soy sauce made out of human hair, and all these other industrial chemicals in their food, they WILL stop buying the stuff. Chinese mothers have been making soy sauce for 2000 years; there is nothing preventing them from sticking a kimchi pot on the windowsill and going back to it. (And yes, I know kimchi pots are Korean...) We provincial Americans might claim to be indignant about Chinese producers using melamine to lie about the protein assay of a sack of gluten; Chinese people are equipped to do something about it. They know how to make gluten at home. They know how to make tofu. They can completely eliminate the presence of packaged foods in their diets far more readily than Americans can...because they know how. It's family tradition. Which, naturally, scares the living fuck out of the government.

They are going to show the arrests, the trials, the executions, the burning of all the contaminated foods...they have to do something Right Fucking Now to restore consumer confidence.

[gravity]

16. The Chinese government has strong incentives to crack down on this

This is terrible for their exports, which will hurt their economy unless something is done about it. You can't save money putting poisons in your food, if no one is willing to buy it in the first place anymore.

Whether this crackdown will be effective or not is a whole different story however.

[underpants]

18. No offense but that isn't true

they are in the position of being the only provider for many of these food products. There is no competition at least not on a scale to satisfy demand immediately.

[gravity]

32. If the FDA blocks imports from China, there will be a problem

Demand would be taken care of by the free markets. The price of the goods will increase, giving domestic and other foreign producers the incentive to produce more.

[Warren DeMontague]

42. Only way the "FDA" is going to do anything is if China starts sending Plan B Contraception

Hellooooo? The Crazy Jesus Freaks Bush has put in charge of the FDA don't give a shit if stuff in our food kills people... only if it prevents unwanted pregnancy and might "encourage" teens to screw.

[valerief]

46. FDA means "F*ck De Americans" nowadays. Not the people that work there.

Just the people that control the place.

[On the Road]

26. The Reason the Report is Credible

is that the national government has everything to lose and nothing to gain from tainted food exports.

The government is the majority shareholder in 31 of the largest 32 corporations in China. The rest they don't care about as much. The mid- and small-cap firms are the ones that are doing this. The tainted food is causing a huge backlash in their major trade partner and threatening trade in all the products that the government sells.

You better believe the Chinese are serious about this, and they don't fool around. It wouldn't surprise me if some of these people were taken out and shot.

[candice]

56. Serious about the PR aspect, not the safety of the food...

The polluters and putrefiers will fly high as long as they grease enough hands. China is run by a dictatorship for the benefit of a few. The rest need to be kept in their place, kind of like the way junk food and TV and long commutes and shopping for Chinese products sedates Americans.

[loudsue]

58. I wish I had your confidence in them, ribofunk....

The Chinese almost have more food producing companies than the United States has PEOPLE within our borders.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-05-25-china-food-scandal_N.htm

<snip>

""We have over 200 million farming households, and production of different foodstuffs is very scattered," says Chen, the director of an international center for food-contamination monitoring in China. "Even the government lacks an exact figure on the number of food-processing enterprises. There may be 1 million, across China's 31 provinces, and most are small or midsize, and they lack education, and technical and legal knowledge. It is impossible for inspectors to visit them all within a single year."

It seems that every industry they have is corrupted...

And tainted medicine....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/world/06poison.html?ex=1183089600&en=0f80aa508fa018a7&ei=5070

And actually, everything they export.... (link to really informative article in WaPo )


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/19/AR2007051901273.html?hpid=topnews


The problem here is that there's no way the Chinese are going to police all this mess. Every time they put out a fire, there are 3 more that pop up, raging like never before. And, frankly, I'm not sure that our globalists that have re-located to China, are going to push for things to be different. They are, instead, going to make it where those who REPORT on it are the ones targeted. Read this quote from the Chinese: (from the above-linked USA Today article)

"More than two months after the USA began a massive pet-food recall, since linked to contaminated ingredients imported from China, business and government officials in China are investigating what went wrong and promising improvement in a country where mass poisonings from tainted foods have been common. But they also say they're not the only ones who need to take more responsibility.

"Officials like me in the Chinese government can supervise the producers here, but U.S. companies doing business with Chinese companies must also be very clear about the standards they need, and don't just look for a cheap price," says Yuan Changxiang, a deputy director in the ministry responsible for inspecting imports and exports.

Jin Zemin, general manager of Shanghai Kaijin Bio-Tech, which specializes in wheat gluten, agrees. U.S. importers "want cheaper prices, but that can come at a cost," he says. "You should know exactly where the products you buy are coming from. Don't just look at the price."

The Chinese rebuttal coincides with diplomatic trade talks this week in Washington, D.C., covering a range of issues including U.S. complaints about contaminated food imports from China.


The Chinese believe it's our own fault that their stuff is poisoned, because we want cheaper prices. Now, how's THAT for twisted logic? This is the mind set that our greedy globalists are dealing with, and they don't seem to give a flip as long as they're making money.

How the republicans are so supportive of a communist country is waaaay beyond my comprehension.

:kick:

[On the Road]

63. Believe Me, I Have *No* Confidence They Will Succeed

in controlling the industry. There are too many small companies with financial incentives to cheat, and not enough of a regulatory structure to inspect everything. I don't think the government even particulary cares about food safety for the US or the Chinese public over the long haul.

I do think the Chinese government is up in arms about this. The tainted food is costing the country money and creating international difficulties. The feds will take whatever authoritarian action they have to put the fear of god in potential abusers.

And I am sure that it is partly the fault of US importers. If you engage in ruthless price negotiations with hundreds of bidders, the lowest bidders are generally those with the lowest standards. If the importers are not testing, they're pretty guaranteed to receive substandard product.

[MrPrax]

17. Wonder how long it will take...

before the neolib/cons rattle the cages on this one....

China Shuts 180 Food Factories

...sounds way better than

Communist Party Routs Profiteering!!

But while we are on the subject -- I am not to sure about how I WOULD feel if, at least part effort was spent by Our Side on testing food we import and grow.

We have laws where if a meat factory sends out e. coli meat (instead of the regular stuff), they are not necessarily even obliged to tell local public health authorities which companies received it as this might reveal those companies and thus give unfair advantage to competitors!!

In other words, it wouldn't be a BAD thing if the gov't simply shuttered a factory here once in a blue moon and arrested a profiteer or ten.

It seems that the only thing the government inspects these days are whether or not the workers are legal and paying their taxes.

Just how much profiteering is going on out there that needs to be routed.

(...but I am just happy these days that the Man finally listened to the People and released Sister Paris so she can continue her good works and struggle in the community...)

[marmar]

20. Who knows what kind of crap we've been eating.....

As I understand it, chickens that are raised here in the States go to China for processing these days..... We'll all be lucky if we don't all grow four eyes and six ears. It's enough to make you want to form your own organic commune.

[Boxturtle]

21. There was an article in Sunday's paper about

toys and other products coming from China being contaminated with lead and other hazardous metals. I always check for country of origin labeling (I know most food does not have this) and rarely buy anything made in China (or any Asian country for that matter). We definitely need country of origin labeling on our food.

[candice]

57. Yes, this has been known for sometime...check your mugs--lead is used in the glazes...

...most of the world's vitamins are produced in China, too. Chinese tires are being recalled for safety defects (some of them skipped a vital safety component, thereby saving some yuan at the manufacturer's), China is poised to control the car parts market and the airplane parts market. Try to find products made here...it is getting hard to do.

[kath]

25. Gee, China produces unsafe food! What a surprise!!

Not.

We need country-of-origin labeling laws for ALL INGREDIENTS. Now.

[Javaman]

31. Just the term "food factory" freaks me out a bit. nt

[swag]

39. I hope they didn't shut down the one that converted human hair into soy sauce.

[LaurenG]

43. I was just discussing that with the non DUer's here at work

as we had Chinese food at the cafeteria today. That bit of info has turned me off to soy sauce now. x(

[candice]

52. You can buy Japanese brands made in the U.S.A.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

59. We've stopped using the packets that come with takeout.

IIRC, that was the form in which the follicle sauce was exported. Gack.

Carryouts here give you so many packets that I used to cut them open and funnel them into a bottle. Not anymore. We use only Kikkoman now, which the label says is produced in Wisconsin from fermented soybeans.

[LaurenG]

61. Have you ever heard of Braggs

It tastes like soy sauce (unless one is a real connoisseur) . Thanks for the heads up on the packets. I would rather not think of the many times I have used those. :hi:

http://www.bragg.com/products/liquidaminos.html

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

68. Thanks for the link!

I don't know if I can get Mag to eat something that healthy unless he gets to pour it on sweet and sour pork, but I'm bookmarking anyway. :hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

60. I missed that story...

I hope it wasn't in the little packets I used this past weekend... :puke:

[Blue Diadem]

66. I missed that one too. n/t

[bikebloke]

47. Why are we even importing food from anywhere?

A country that can't fee its own people is in trouble. So much for being the breadbasket of the world. But then fat, greedy CEO's need more yachts.

[formercia]

50. The bottom line

If some Corporate manager can save $.50 per ton by buying from China, he will, because that's his job.

I had a brother-in-law that worked for a major food company. He was in charge of the line that made tomato soup. They would get tomato paste in 55 gallon drums lined with plastic. He figured out that the small amount that stuck to the plastic when they emptied the drums into the processing tank would amount to a considerable quantity over a year. He rigged an apparatus made from an old washing machine wringer that the operator would run the liner through to squeeze out those last few drips. That operation saved the company over a quarter million a year. It's all a matter of scale.

The oil companies love it for all the fuel they sell to haul the crap back and forth.

[candice]

51. We can feed ourselves...support local farmers and farmer's markets...grow your own...

it's the subsidized U.S. agribusiness that makes money on processed food (high-fructose corn syrup in everything)... and the profits on cheap low-quality products that fuels our Chinese imports. How can our garlic complete when slave labor in China can peel it for you at less cost than buying American! Imagine how sanitary that garlic is for you. Peanuts are hand-picked in China and funneled through Canada for "manufacturing" as organic peanut butter. Never mind that poor growing conditions and shipping conditions can contaminate peanuts with aflatoxins:

From http://www.aflatoxin.info/aflatoxin.asp

"Food products contaminated with aflatoxins include cereal (maize, sorghum, pearl millet, rice, wheat), oilseeds (groundnut, soybean, sunflower, cotton), spices (chillies, black pepper, coriander, turmeric, zinger), tree nuts (almonds, pistachio, walnuts, coconut) and milk.

Physical and chemical properties:

Aflatoxins are potent toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, immunosuppressive agents, produced as secondary metabolites by the fungus Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus on variety of food products."

Meanwhile, I'd like to buy high-quality American peanuts...if I can find them.

Multi-national corporations want to sell to the huge Chinese market. I read in the Economist recently that Chinese officials won't comply with environmental laws until the Chinese people have the same standard of living as Americans. By then, there won't be much left of the Earth.

China already cannot feed itself and has to import soybeans (once their staple crop) from Brazil (bye-bye what is left of the rain forest).

[Neshanic]

62. In a related story, cats oddly seem more commonly seen in Chinese cities.

[lonestarnot]

67. Hugh?

:shrug: :toast:

[The Brethren]

70. What is this world coming to

when you can't even trust your own toothpaste? I find it odd to say the least that all of a sudden we are hearing about tainted food products and the like coming from China, as imports, such as with the serious issue of the infected pet foods with melamine, for ex. I do blame China for what is happening and am not all that surprised.

Why should we trust any imports from abroad that may not have strong standards of testing of their products before they are shipped here. However, I find the timing even more interesting. It all seems to be showing up in the news now, one affected item after another. I'm generally not a believer in coincidences, and I don't see any reason to start now.