What used to be finger-lickin' good chicken for Chun Qing, 41, is now
yet another food item to shun.
Her newfound fear over KFC meals
was sparked by news last month of poultry farms in northern China - including
one that supplied meat to the global fast-food chain - stuffing their birds
with antibiotics and growth hormones.
Two farms breeding these
"fast-growth chickens" - that go from eggs to ready-to-eat meat in 45
days - were shut down last month.
"I've stopped eating chicken
produced in industrial farms. Occasionally, to satisfy my cravings, I'll eat
chicken bred in my family's village home," said Chun, a freelance writer
living in Beijing.
The KFC saga, which has dented
the fast-food chain's business, is among several food scares to have hit China
last year. Other cases include chemical-laden liquor and toxic medicinal pills.
No deaths or mass poisoning cases
have been directly linked to the latest bout of food scandals, unlike the
melamine-tainted milk crisis in 2008 that killed six infants and sickened some
300,000. But they have nonetheless heightened public jitters.
"This unending stream of
food scandals is plunging the Chinese people into 'deep water and fire'... We
may all collapse one day from the food we eat," lamented one netizen, Wen
Nuan, on the Sina Weibo microblog site.
Eager to appease an increasingly
vocal and demanding public, the Chinese authorities have pledged tougher action.
Shanghai and Beijing last week
announced new measures to blacklist companies violating food safety laws, news
agency Xinhua reported. The planned laws, which will be released this year,
will block companies caught using banned substances in food or illegally
producing and selling banned food additives from operating in the two cities.
Other cities may follow suit as
the central government has set a five-year action plan to crack down on food
scandals, a major step forward to clear China's alarmingly poor food safety
track record, analysts point out.
"This year (2012), the
government has taken many measures to ensure food safety. The magnitude of its
policies is also greater than that in the past," said China Agricultural
University Professor Luo Junbo.
Still, Chun is not assured.
She said: "I don't have
confidence that the government can control the problem. The leaders eat special
supplies of fresh, organic food, so they don't understand the ordinary folk's
suffering."
She is not alone. Almost 30 per
cent of netizens polled by Shanghai news portal East Day last week said they
would no longer eat fast-food chicken.
Others simply shrugged it off.
Almost 25 per cent polled felt
that "Chinese people will not fall to a thousand poisons (guo ren qian du
bu qin)" - perhaps a reflection of how numb some have become to news of
tainted food.
In the first half of 2012, food
inspectors discovered 15,000 cases of food safety violations and shuttered
5,700 unlicensed food businesses. There are no official figures for previous
years.
One of the headline-grabbing food
scandals featured the use of chromium. The toxic metal that can cause kidney
and liver failure was found in the capsules of 13 Chinese medications last
April.
More than 20 people were arrested
in coastal Zhejiang province for using gelatin containing chromium culled from
discarded leather shoes to make the capsules.
Another widely used illicit
ingredient is formaldehyde. The media in various cities, especially in southern
China, recently reported that rogue merchants have used the toxic compound to
preserve cabbages, brew beer and turn pig's blood into fake duck's blood.
Last month, state media reported
that high levels of plasticiser - a chemical, which in high doses, can cause
kidney and fertility problems - had been found in several liquor products, like
the famous Kweichow Moutai.
Last June, a pilot study published
in the Journal Of Agriculture And Food Chemistry found that plasticisers,
especially the compound DEHP, occur more frequently in Chinese food products
than those from other countries.
Despite the list of cases, Prof
Luo cautioned the public and media against going to the extreme of succumbing
to irrational fear.
He blamed such behaviour on
"alarmist" media reports, some of which are not factually accurate
and have been circulating of late.
"Many do not have the
ability to judge (the authenticity of such reports), so when rumours spread,
everyone gets scared," said Prof Luo. He called for government agencies to
release more reliable food safety information.
Grace Ng
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Health care and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN 's area. We are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, if any request, please, contact directly Dr Christian SIODMAK, business strategist, owner and CEO of SBC at christian.siodmak@gmail.com. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment