« "Feelings, wo-o-o feelings" ~ Chertoff Sings From His Gut | Main | Some of Iraq's Insurgents Working Alongside US Troops »
July 13, 2007
China Says It’s Food Not Safe To Eat
An alarming admission by Beijing’s food safety boss that the country’s food industry is so unhygienic that consumers risked disease has sparked calls for tougher testing of the $400 million worth of Chinese produce eaten each year by Australians.
China’s food safety department head Sun Xiande issued the unprecedented warning to Chinese media that hidden threats would “gradually emerge and disease will likely gradually occur due to the harmful ingredients in food” in light of a series of food safety scares in the US.
“Food safety accidents or events will not only affect the healthy development of the entire (food) industry, but also possibly affect the local economy and social stability,” he was reported as saying.
A former food and safety watchdog executive, Zheng Xiaoyu, was executed yesterday after being found guilty of taking bribes to approve substandard medicines.
The discovery on US supermarket shelves of Chinese pet food which contained potentially poisonous chemicals started a recall of products from the Asian giant, including juice which contained unsafe colour additives and toothpaste laced with an industrial solvent.
The latest scare comes after repeated warnings from WA fruit and vegetable growers that cheap Chinese imports were grown in sewage and sprayed with DDT. Two years ago an international animal welfare group raised concerns that fish farms in China were feeding infected chicken manure to fish, some of which might be imported into Australia.
Shadow minister for primary industries, fisheries and forestry Kerry O’Brien said the reports from China vindicated his call for the Howard Government to introduce tougher standards on Chinese food imports.
“The Australian Government should follow the lead of the US Food and Drug Administration and apply a 100 per cent testing regime on certain food imports from China, effective immediately,” he said.
Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics records show that last year Australia imported more than $100 million of Chinese seafood, including prawns, fish fillets, scallops and tinned fish products. Total food imports from China are worth more than $400 million a year and include fruit, vegetables and cereal.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand spokeswoman Lydia Buchtmann said the situation in China was being monitored closely but the testing process was rigorous. The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service samples 5 per cent of food imports, but in high-risk cases, such as seafood, it can opt to sample 100 per cent. A spokesman for Fisheries Minister Eric Abetz said AQIS was reviewing the testing of seafood coming in from China.
Wild Thing's comment........
Who the hell started all this importing of FOOD from other countries anyway? We were the bread basket of the world for years and now every other food product in our supermarkets is IMPORTED from a foreign country. WHY ???
I don't think we should allow any food from countries with lower standards than ours. As a matter of fact, I don't think we should allow anything in from countries who don't have the same labor, antipollution, safety laws as us. Any country that trades with another, should also allow inspections by that country. Our companies shouldn't have to compete with those who don't have the same restrictions.
Posted by Wild Thing at July 13, 2007 12:44 AM
Comments
A few months ago the Red Chinese poisoned our beloved pets, and now ? Guess where the Olympics are next year? - Meow Cyanide Mix, Colgate Tooth
Acid, Cat Fried Rice 2007?
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at July 13, 2007 02:57 AM
The Chinese don't care if their own people die.
There's too many of them anyway.
But to purposely export "poisonous" and "not consumable" foods to other lands is down right awful, but maybe they think they can kill us with our food so they can take over.
Darth--where I live, a few years back, we had some Chinese immigrants who were capturing cats around town and freezing them in their freezers to sell to the Chinese restaurants around town, so we did have Cat Fried Rice until they were caught.
Disgusting for sure.
I can't even eat any Chinese food unless I make it myself at home with my own ingredients.
Posted by: Lynn at July 13, 2007 06:24 AM
And how many Chinese lobbyiset are paying congressmen to get that junk into our country,.
Now they are talking about a Carbon Tax, if you use Gas, Coal, or Oil to heat, standby the price is going up ... Again !
Isn't it time for a good old fashioned house cleaning.
Posted by: Mark at July 13, 2007 07:54 AM
I can tell you here in Idaho they are covering
farm land with house's...Then you have folks
that move in bitch about the smell,dust and
noise from the farming thats left...We even
have a right to farm law and when you buy you
have sign off on it,doesn't mean squat the folks
whine and complain so much the farmer says screw
it and sells out.There goes more land to
development.Its said we used to feed the world
now the world feeds us...That sucks...Along with
all that crap you wouldn't belive the influx of
Mexicans...And has the crime rate gone up???
Posted by: Tincan Sailor at July 13, 2007 11:20 AM
Yesterday my mutual fund portfolio hit new highs. A lot of that corporate profit is from outsourcing and importing. In other words, selling America out. Giving away our jobs and industry and importing(immigrating) cheap labor.
Once this North American Union gets activated, I guess my portfolio will really hum, along with Balkanized civil strife and Americans working three low wage jobs. But, the corporate elite will be doubling their bonuses each quarter and the socialist politicians will be importing more voters. And we will probably have even more Kennedys and Bushs in office.
And America will be losing more of her culture and industrial strength as the clueless troop off to the big box stores to buy Chinese and Mexican goods that used to be made in America.
Posted by: TomR at July 13, 2007 01:07 PM
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait--I thought the reason we were supposed to embrace illegal invaders from alien lands was so that we could have our own cheap food and not import any?
Gee whiz--you mean those lefties LIED to me?
Posted by: Trish at July 13, 2007 09:48 PM
Darth, your right, I would hate to be one of the people going to the Olympics in China. Very scary. I would be taking tons of crackers and peanut butter or something.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 14, 2007 12:02 AM
Lynn, hahaha I ma exactly the same way.
"I can't even eat any Chinese food unless I make it myself at home with my own ingredients."
I have been like that with Chinese food for several years and this just made me even stronger about how I feel about it.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 14, 2007 12:05 AM
Mark that is what is needed, a good old fashioned house cleaning big time.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 14, 2007 12:07 AM
Tincan Sailor, thanks for the information.
I was born in Illinois and my Dad owned several farms. They no longer are farms, now they are all big subdivisions and shopping centers.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 14, 2007 12:09 AM
Lynn... did it taste like ... CHICKEN? - Colonel Lingus KFC Finger Licking Good 2007?
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at July 14, 2007 12:12 AM
Tom that is a good example of how this has effected our country, thank you so much.
Your right it will effect everything including our culture and industrial strength.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 14, 2007 12:12 AM
Trish, hahahahahha yes they did, they lied to you and me and a bunch of us. Well more then a bunch.
Posted by: Wild Thing at July 14, 2007 12:15 AM
