Thread: China's food woes become ours

Wednesday, April 25, 2007 - 12:00 AM


Close-up
China's food woes become ours

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
The Washington Post

SHANGHAI, China —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 problem and have promised repeatedly to fix it. President Hu Jintao called on farms to improve food safety and develop the organic sector, state media said today, after the ruling Communist Party's Politburo listened to new reports on the matter.

But the disasters keep coming. Tang Yanli, 45, grand-aunt of a baby who became sick because of the fake milk but eventually recovered, said that even though she now pays more to buy imported brands, she remains suspicious.

"I don't trust the food I eat," she said.

No. 1 exporter

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's agricultural exports to the United States surged to $2.26 billion last year, according to U.S. figures — more than 20 times the $133 million of 1980.

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 labeling. In February, border inspectors for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) blocked peas tainted by pesticides, dried white plums containing banned additives, pepper contaminated with salmonella and frozen crawfish that were filthy.

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. And South Korea banned fermented cabbage after finding parasites in some shipments.

"Anonymous" products

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 Center 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 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.

Why the food is killing pets remains a focus of investigation, but 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.

Wheat gluten is also commonly used in breads, cereals and other foods for human consumption, but contamination has not been found in such U.S. products.

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. That is something that people should worry about."

Not surprisingly, food-related poisonings are a common occurrence.

Last year, farmers raising duck eggs were found to have used a red dye so the yolks would look reddish instead of yellow, fetching a higher price. The dye turned out to be a cancer-causing substance not approved for human consumption. In Shanghai, 300 people were poisoned by a chemical additive in pork.

William Hubbard, a top official in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for 14 years who now advocates for stiffer food safety regulations, recounted how one supplier drove a truck over tea leaves to dry them with exhaust, which leached lead into the leaves.

The Chinese government has undertaken a major overhaul of its monitoring system by dispatching state inspectors to every province, launching spot inspections at supermarkets and firing a number of corrupt officials.

Henk Bekedam, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative in China, said the situation is complicated by poor coordination among 17 government agencies involved in food safety.

In the United States and Europe, food is identified by lot numbers that can often help authorities pinpoint problems. And increasingly, food producers in developed countries are under pressure to keep records that allow the tracing of problem ingredients to individual farms.

China has a long way to go to achieve this type of modern system, said Hu Dinghuan, a researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development who is working on a national pilot program to encourage farmers to keep better records.

Hard to trace

China has more than 200 million farmers working one- to two-acre plots. Many earn a meager living, sometimes less than $200 a year. Studies have found they often have little understanding of correct chemical or antibiotic use.

The marketing of food and food-related goods in China is also dominated by small-time traders. Small farmers typically take their food to wholesale markets, get cash for their wares but do not exchange documentation with buyers.

Their products are mixed with those of other small farmers, making the source untraceable. "The person who is ultimately buying knows nothing about where it originated," Hami Food's O'Brien said.

In response to the pet deaths in the United States, China is carrying out a nationwide inspection of wheat gluten, but its government has refuted allegations that Chinese companies are responsible for the deaths.

Wheat gluten has industrial uses and China has suggested the shipments that made their way into pet food might never have been intended for that purpose. China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said China has never sent wheat gluten abroad for use as a pet-food ingredient. That has raised the question of whether companies that bought the gluten are guilty of misusing it.

Who's to blame?

On the quarantine authorities' Web site on April 13, an unnamed official said, "If a company used industrial wheat protein as a pet-food ingredient and this led to the death of pets, that company should accept the corresponding responsibility."

Investigators from the United States and China are still trying to determine how the contaminated wheat gluten got into pet food.

The FDA said it had traced the ingredient to Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development, near Shanghai. The company has said, however, that it is a middleman and got the wheat gluten from another source.

Information from The Associated Press and Reuters is included in this report.

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/h ... ood25.html

I probably shouldn't say this, but I wish one of those elite WTO officials' would get sick on imported foods!

There is no reason in this world, that the USA has to import food!

Saturday, my daughter-in-law's mini-schnauzer died.....all the symptoms of this bad dog food, and she was watching the recall lists!

Everyday they are putting out another recall for dog/cat food, we will probably find out in a few days, that the one her dog was eating is now on a recall list!

I've watched the list too, and it kept growing as more and more brands were added to it, showing how many were just 'false faces' hiding the same old imported ingredients. Our pets were lucky: they were on Purina, but it was eventually revealed that even some of the 'scientific' high-end brands were no safer than the discount brands.

I'm so sorry to hear about your daugher-in-law's dog. So many needless, painful deaths, and all to cut a corner to make a buck.

Originally Posted by BetsyRoss

I've watched the list too, and it kept growing as more and more brands were added to it, showing how many were just 'false faces' hiding the same old imported ingredients. Our pets were lucky: they were on Purina, but it was eventually revealed that even some of the 'scientific' high-end brands were no safer than the discount brands.

I'm so sorry to hear about your daugher-in-law's dog. So many needless, painful deaths, and all to cut a corner to make a buck.

Her dog was eating ONE. The poor thing, she said he finally started urinating while he was laying down. I told her to buy this new food I started getting, for her other dog that is much younger, and so far he hasn't been affected.

I had one of our dogs in our vet's office just as reporters started calling: one of their high end brands sold through veterinarian offices (one of the Hills formulas I think) had just been announced as being affected. So people were paying for anonymous third world contaminated ingredients in spite of the label (and price tag).

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.

Truth be told, I think these companies are more interested in maximizing profits! Hiring illegal immigrants and purchasing cheap ingredients serve the same purpose - increased profits. Wouldn't it be refreshing to actually hear the truth on occasion?

they then sold the recalled pet food to pig farmers

What are we going to eat that is safe?

Tainted Wheat Gluten Sold as "Food Grade"
Del Monte Foods has confirmed that the melamine-tainted wheat gluten used in several of its recalled pet food products was supplied as a "food grade" additive, raising the likelihood that contaminated wheat gluten might have entered the human food supply.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-goldstein/tainted-wheat-gluten-sold_b_44743.html

The FDA has there is no evidence so far to suggest any of the rice protein went to companies that make human food, said Michael Rogers, director of the agency's division of field investigations. But the FDA, which is continuing to update 1. its list of pet food recalls, has not yet accounted for all of the imported ingredients.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/ ... 3621.shtml

Tainted Pet Food has finally hit the human food supply by way of hogs who ate pet food laced with melamine, a rodenticide banned in the US but in use in China.
California officials quarantined 1,500 animals at the American Hog Farm and are tracking who purchased nearly 100 hogs from the farm this month, when the animals' feed included pet food that had been tainted with melamine.
In addition, 26 hogs were sold and slaughtered at an unnamed processing plant in northern California . Federal authorities quarantined those unprocessed carcasses at that plant, but state officials expect to identify more California processing plants that purchased the hogs.

http://bettercell.blogspot.com/2007/04/ ... urces.html

http://www.epa.gov/indicate/roe/html/roeHealthMe.htm


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health officials are now looking at whether humans may have consumed food containing a chemical linked to a recall of pet foods and livestock feed, the U.S.
FDA officials said they would inspect imports of six grain products used in foods ranging from bread to baby formula for traces of melamine, a chemical thought to have killed and sickened cats and dogs.
The California Agriculture Department said separately it was trying to contact 50 people who bought pork that may have come from pigs fed food containing melamine. The state's health department recommended humans not consume the meat, but said any health risk was minimal.
Melamine, a chemical used in plastics and fertilizer, has already been found in wheat gluten and rice protein imported from China for use in some pet foods, triggering a recall of more than 100 brands.
The FDA named the six grain products to be inspected as wheat gluten, corn gluten, corn meal, soy protein, rice bran and rice protein.
"We're going to target firms that we know are receiving imported products," said David Acheson, chief medical officer of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in a conference call with reporters. "The goal is obviously to sample as much as we can."
There is little research on melamine's effect on humans, according to
World Health Organization, but the chemical has been studied in animals for its risk of kidney problems and cancer. The WHO does not classify the chemical as a carcinogen for people.
Some tainted material was used for hog feed before the contamination was found, and officials said on Tuesday thousands of pigs might be affected on farms in North and South Carolina, California, New York, Utah and possibly Ohio.The FDA is working with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and several states to investigate the now-quarantined farms and whether hogs on those farms were slaughtered for human food.
"Some of the hog operations were fairly sizable," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. But USDA spokesman Steve Cohen said the feed was sold to smaller and independent hog farms.
A poultry farm in Missouri also may have received tainted feed, officials added.
Still, the FDA has no intention of banning imports of wheat gluten, rice protein or similar products from China."We believe the safety net is in place to make sure that no additional products are going to get into the commerce of the United States," said David Elder, director of FDA's enforcement office.
Melamine was first found in March in wheat gluten used for some pet foods. Menu Foods, Procter & Gamble Co., Colgate-Palmolive Co., Nestle SA and Del Monte Foods Co. have recalled pet products made with the gluten.
More recently, rice protein tainted with melamine was also shipped to at least five pet food manufacturers by a supplier that imported it from China, the FDA has said.
On Monday, two U.S. lawmakers said a second company likely imported rice protein from China that was contaminated with Melamine. FDA officials on Tuesday would not say whether there was a second importer.