Unfit for Chinese but Good for the Rest of Us?

One-fifth of products made in China for domestic consumption failed quality and safety standards, the Chinese government said, while a state newspaper stressed Wednesday the need to raise quality guidelines to meet international levels.

China's dismal product safety record - both within and outside its borders - has increasingly come under the spotlight in both the local and foreign media as its goods make their way through global markets. Major buyers such as the United States, Japan, and the European Union have pushed Beijing to improve inspections.

In the first half of 2007, 19.1 per cent of products made for domestic consumption were found to be substandard, China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement posted on its website late Tuesday.

Canned and preserved fruit and dried fish were the most problematic, commonly because of excessive microorganisms and additives, the agency said.

Though the survey covered many different products, it focused on food, common consumer goods, farm machinery and fertilizers.

More than 93 per cent of products made by large enterprises met standards, while only about 73 per cent of products made by small enterprises met standards, the agency said. It did not say how it defined the size of the companies.

In an editorial Wednesday, China Daily newspaper said food exported by China sometimes did not meet standards of importing countries because of a difference in quality guidelines.

"This is not because the food itself was of low quality but because the standards we use may be lower," the editorial said.

"It is becoming increasingly urgent to raise the food safety standards to international levels."

Fears that China's chronic food safety problems were going global surfaced earlier this year with the deaths of dogs and cats in North America blamed on pet food containing Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine.

U.S. authorities have also turned away or recalled toxic fish, juice containing unsafe colour additives and popular toy trains decorated with lead paint. Chinese-made toothpaste has been banned by numerous countries for containing diethylene glycol, a toxic ingredient often found in antifreeze.

Source: CBC.ca

Chinese Snack Foods Recalled

A seasoning made with imported Chinese ingredients used on recalled U.S. snack foods sold in Canada was contaminated with salmonella, a company official said Tuesday.

The snack foods sickened dozens of people.

The seasoning, used on both Super Veggie Tings Crunchy Corn Sticks and Veggie Booty snack foods, tested positive for the bacteria, said Robert Ehrlich, president and chief executive of Robert's American Gourmet Inc. The "veggie" seasoning's ingredients came primarily from China, the company said.

Also Tuesday, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture said it found a strain of the bacteria called salmonella Wandsworth in a Veggie Booty sample. The rare strain matched the genetic fingerprint of the type that made consumers ill in multiple states, Minnesota officials said in a release.

The Sea Cliff, N.Y., company recalled its Veggie Booty Snack Food last week after it was associated with 54 cases of salmonella poisoning in 17 states. Many of those infected reported eating Veggie Booty.

The company expanded the recall Monday to include Super Veggie Tings Crunchy Corn Sticks Snack Food, since it uses the same seasoning. Both baked products were sold across United States and Canada.

No other company product uses the spray-on seasoning.

The recall is only the latest in a growing series to involve Chinese-made products found to be tainted, defective or otherwise dangerous. In recent weeks, there have been recalls of Chinese tires, toy trains and toothpaste. The U.S. government also is blocking some Chinese farmed seafood imports because of widespread contamination by antibiotics and other drugs.

Ehrlich said he had been unaware of where the ingredients used in the seasoning originated. The products are made under contract; Ehrlich would not identify the manufacturer.

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections, especially in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. Symptoms include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

Source: CBC.ca