China Wal-Mart recalls donkey meat because of contamination

Donkey meat is a dining delicacy in northern China. Fox is not.

Wal-Mart has just recalled donkey meat products from some of its stores in China because tests show that the meat is contaminated with fox meat.

Chinese Commerce Minister: over 99 per cent of China’s exports are safe

In the face of a growing crisis of confidence in Chinese goods, Bo Xilai, Commerce Minister, said that “over 99 per cent of China’s export products are good and safe”. In comments published on Thursday on the ministry’s website, “We hope that all parties can treat Chinese products objectively, fairly and rationally. Don’t let this damage the normal development of trade.”

Financial Times

Chinese authorities clamp down on media reports about food safety

Japan Today | staff

HONG KONG — China is tightening its grip on media reporting food safety problems in Beijing following a recent rebuff by the government of a pork-bun report, the South China Morning Post said Tuesday.

The Hong Kong daily said several media in China's capital city have been warned or ordered to cut down on political news coverage, especially regarding unsafe food. The report said the hardest hit was the tabloid Beijing Daily Messenger, which was told by the Publicity Department of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee to "scrap its political and social pages and cover only entertainment and lifestyle stories."

California Department of Public Health Warns Consumers Not to Eat Fresh Ginger From China

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Sacramento, CA -- July 29, 2007 -- Dr. Mark Horton, director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), today warned consumers not to eat fresh ginger imported from China after the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s residue monitoring program detected the presence of aldicarb sulfoxide in some batches of imported ginger. Aldicarb sulfoxide is a pesticide that is not approved for use on ginger.

The product is known to have been distributed to Albertson's stores and Save Mart stores in northern California by Christopher Ranch of Gilroy, California.

CDPH and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are tracing the imported ginger from the importer (Modern Trading Inc. in Alhambra, California) to determine the full distribution of the product and to identify other retail stores that may have received the product.

Currently, there are no reports of illness associated with the contaminated ginger.

Consumers who may have purchased this product from Albertson's stores and Save Mart stores in northern California should discard it.

Symptoms of aldicarb poisoning in humans are likely to occur within the first hour following exposure. Ingestion of foods contaminated with aldicarb at low levels can cause flu-like symptoms (nausea, headache, blurred vision) which disappear quickly, usually within 5 or 6 hours. However, at higher levels, ingestion of aldicarb contaminated food can also cause dizziness, salivation, excessive sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle stiffness and twitching, and difficulty in breathing.

Individuals who may have consumed this product and have any of the above symptoms should contact their health care provider immediately.

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FDA's Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts Page: http://www.fda.gov/opacom/7alerts.html

Food Scare Puts Chinese Media On The Defensive

Taipei Times | By Howard French


A majority of the Chinese media still view foreign coverage of the tainted food scandal as Western efforts to put down their country.

For weeks, as questions have multiplied over the safety of China's exports of food and other consumer goods, the Chinese media have had a consistent refrain.

US complaints about China's products are part of a mounting trade war. They are the expression of efforts by Westerners to keep China down, to invent what the Chinese media have called a "China threat" to manipulate public opinion.

China Says It’s Food Not Safe To Eat

The West Australian


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.

China assures food safety for athletes at 2008 Beijing Olympics

BEIJING (AP) -- Despite food safety problems, China says athletes, coaches and officials at the 2008 Beijing Olympics can be assured of healthy meals.

"All the procedures involving Olympic food, including production, processing, packaging, storing and transporting will be closely monitored," Sun Wenxu, an official with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said Tuesday.

China has come under international pressure to boost food safety and monitoring mechanisms following repeated scandals over contaminated Chinese food exports.

That has underscored chronic problems with adulterated ingredients and fake products in the domestic food supply, raising questions of how well China can guarantee the purity of food for the games.