China Food Contamination 'Jaw-Dropping

The discovery of horse meat in British beef burgers is clearly a worry. But concerned customers should be relieved they don't live in China, where food contamination is widespread and the scandals are jaw-dropping.

For years now, there has been a steady flow of scandals across China. They have included cooking oil recycled from drains and resold, strawberries sprayed with dye to make them look more red and chicken containing growth hormones which produce a fully grown chicken in just 45 days.

According to an article published in China's Global Times, years of research by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences revealed widespread use of so-called 'drainage oil': cooking oil recovered from discarded kitchen waste and then recycled and re-used in restaurants.

The academy described the practice as "rampant".

"China consumes about 22.5 million tons of cooking oil annually, which means that one in 10 meals in the country may be cooked with illegal cooking oil," according to one professor involved in the research.

 A stall holder sells chickens in Hefei

 

In November last year, another Chinese paper, the Guangming Daily, revealed the extraordinary case of the fake Chinese eggs.

According to the paper, a woman in a market in Henan province discovered a van selling unusually cheap eggs. She bought some and regretted it.

The eggs had apparently been made using a pre-prepared mould. Into the mould resin, starch and pigments were poured to create the egg white. A substance extracted from brown algae was used to make the egg yolk. Paraffin wax, gypsum powder and calcium carbonate apparently worked for the shell.

And then there is the story of the "instant chickens": from egg to ready-to-eat in just 45 days.

The birds had apparently been fed steroids to speed up their growth. More disturbing though, according to one report on Chinese state TV, a factory that supplied Chinese branches of KFC and McDonald's had been feeding excessive amounts of antibiotics to its chickens to help them survive in overcrowded coops. (KFC and McDonald's both stress that their chicken conforms to safety standards).

On Tuesday Chinese authorities revealed how concerned they are about the issues, announcing rewards of up to £30,000 to those who report the violation of food safety laws.

"Actions taken to report violations of food and drug safety laws will be rewarded," state news agency Xinhua said. "The reward for each case, in principle, will not exceed 300,000 yuan."

Living in China means questioning everything you eat. Even if it is claimed something is organic or pesticide-free or whatever else, there is no guarantee that it really is.

Safe eating in China is about varying what you buy, where you buy it from - and it is about hoping for the best.