China shuts 180 food factories for using illegal chemicals

BEIJING, China (AP) -- China has closed 180 food factories after inspectors found industrial chemicals being used in products from candy to seafood, state media said Wednesday.

The closures came amid a nationwide crackdown on shoddy and dangerous products launched in December that also uncovered use of recycled or expired food, the China Daily said.

Formaldehyde, illegal dyes, and industrial wax were found being used to make candy, pickles, crackers and seafood, it said, citing Han Yi, an official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, which is responsible for food safety.

"These are not isolated cases," Han, director of the administration's quality control and inspection department, was quoted as saying.

CNN

U.S. Apple Growers Brace for Expected Competition from China

(GETTYSBURG, PA) -- Farmers have been growing apples here since before the Civil War, and as times have changed they have changed with them, planting smaller trees to speed up harvests and growing popular new varieties to satisfy changing tastes.

But the growers who have made this hilly region the core of apple-growing in Pennsylvania worry that they face a new challenge that may be too big to overcome and could change their way of life.

Like farmers in the bigger apple-producing states, they are becoming increasingly anxious about the prospect of China flooding the U.S. market with their fresh apples - an event many believe is inevitable, even if it could be years away.

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

China Food Safety Issue Not Hurting Sales

SHANGHAI -- Controversy over the safety of Chinese food products is grabbing headlines around the world, but multinational companies which sell food from China said the issue was not threatening their business.

Executives attending an international food industry conference in Shanghai this week urged China to allay public fears by strengthening its regulation of the sector.

The News - International

WP: "Cause for Concern In Chinese Bulbs?"

...Most of us buy garlic at a supermarket. We don't know what kind it is, how fresh it is or where it's grown. But there's a good chance it comes from China, which produces 75 percent of the world's supply...

Garlic is the United States' biggest fresh-vegetable import from China, which sent us 138 million pounds of it worth more than $70 million last year. We also get small amounts from Mexico, Argentina and about 15 other countries. We eat a lot of garlic -- about three pounds per person a year.

Although most of our fresh garlic comes from halfway around the world, it's cheaper than garlic grown in California...

Washington Post article