Wired Blogger Questions Safety of Food Imported from China
Wired magazine’s “Superbug” blogger Maryn McKenna recently published an article questioning China’s food safety record after reports surfaced that 11 people from one Xinjiang province village died “and anywhere from 120 to 140 were sickened” by vinegar contaminated with ethylene glycol. According to McKenna, “The vinegar had been stored in barrels that previously contained antifreeze,” although investigators have not yet determined “whether the vinegar was put in the barrels out of ignorance, making it a problem of accidental contamination, or deliberately by an unscrupulous producer seeking to cut corners.”
In either case, McKenna warns, the scandal closely follows allegations that
“aged” vinegar from Shanxi province is “dosed with industrial acid in order to
cut fermentation time and turn out batches faster.” It also adds to a growing
roster of China’s food safety problems that purportedly include “the meat that
glowed in the dark; the tainted buns; the exploding watermelons; the 40 tons
of bean sprouts containing antibiotics and carcinogens; the rice contaminated
with heavy metals; the mushrooms imbued with bleach; and the pork so
dosed with banned stimulants that athletes attending an international meet
in Shanghai had to be told which restaurants were safe to eat at.”
McKenna also cites Food and Drug Administration data estimating that
Chinese food exports will increase 9 percent annually between 2010 and
2020. In particular, she notes the 2007 “melamine-in-milk” incident that
reportedly sickened 300,000 Chinese children and spread to the United States
via pet food, allegedly resulting in the deaths of 4,000 pets. “It’s tempting
to view these Chinese food scandals as interesting but remote, the learning
curve of a society that pushes unfettered capitalism but never experienced
the kind of progressive movement that led to food-safety reform in the United
States,” she concludes. “Except for one small detail: Chinese products don’t
stay in China. They are traded around the world, and increasingly they are sold
here.”
