Jun 29 2007
The Chinese and their imports
We can now add seafood to the growing long list of suspect products from China. The FDA has consistently discovered traces of unapproved drugs that had apparently been pumped into farmed catfish, basa and dace.
The Chinese government, however, assures us that their products are safe. Yeah, tell me another one.
Federal health officials said Thursday they were detaining three types of Chinese fish - catfish, basa and dace - as well as shrimp and eel after repeated testing turned up contamination with drugs unapproved in the United States for use in farmed seafood.
The officials said there have been no reports of illnesses nor do the products pose any immediate health risk. They stopped short of ordering a ban on the fresh and frozen seafood.
The Food and Drug Administration announcement was the latest in an expanding series of problems with imported Chinese products that seemingly permeate U.S. society.
Beyond the fish, federal regulators have recently warned consumers about lead paint in toy trains, defective tires, and toothpaste made with diethylene glycol, a toxic ingredient more commonly found in antifreeze. All the products were imported from China.
China, meanwhile, insisted Thursday that the safety of its products was “guaranteed,” making a rare direct comment on spreading international fears over tainted and adulterated exports.
If you remember earlier this year, the pet food recall that had cats and dogs dropping dead all across the United States was brought about because of a vegetable protein in the food which were derived from China. However, what you probably don’t remember is about 100 people keeling over dead because of a medicinal drugs exported from China.
You probably didn’t hear about that one because it happened in Panama.
Last month, The New York Times reported that at least 100 people had died in Panama after taking medicine containing diethylene glycol that had been produced in China and exported as the harmless syrup glycerine.
And a spokesman for the European Commission said on Wednesday that food safety officials there were investigating after Greece and Poland reported finding traces of melamine in corn gluten and rice protein imported from China, forcing the rejection of one shipment and the withdrawal of tainted feed from the market.
While Beijing has strongly defended the quality and safety of its food and drug exports, and even denied that the toothpaste it exported was unsafe, government regulators at the same time have stepped up safety inspections and shut down companies accused of producing unsafe food or counterfeit drugs.
China, who people have been praising to high heaven as the next industrial superpower for 10 straight years, can’t even produce pet food and simple medicine without cutting corners and threatening the lives of others.
What remains to be seen is if this is just the cheating incompetence intrinsic to the Chinese way of doing business or if this was deliberately malicious with the intent to harm.
Perhaps some time in the near future, the ubiquitous label, “Made in China”, won’t just mean cheap labor anymore.