Food safety an issue across Asia

afp ^ | 5/12/07 | by Lynne O'Donnell

[Flavius]

HONG KONG (AFP) - When Bangladeshi magistrate Rokon-ud-Dowla raided a local fish market to check on the quality of the food for sale, he was shocked by what he discovered.

...

Across Asia governments appear to be struggling to control the use of toxic chemicals in manufactured and fresh food, chemicals that experts believe are responsible for deteriorating public health.

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[Flavius]

bb

[mom4kittys]

[greyfoxx39]

Already posted.

HERE

And pinged

[greyfoxx39]

Sorry, NOT already posted, I misread. But visit the other post too.

[Malsua]

Anyone who’s been in southern China, as I have, is totally not surprised by this. The place is a polluted dump. The rivers are BLACK and they feed into the dookie water bays and deltas. It is from those waters that people eat the fish and other seafood. It’s disgusting.

[Flavius]

but those travel brochures look so nice

[JACKRUSSELL]

Experts across the region are beginning to blame a range of illnesses, including rising cancer rates, liver and kidney ailments, stunted mental and physical development in children -- and, in extreme cases, death -- on adulterated food.

"We have been eating these foods for decades. I think these foods are the reason why we have increasing numbers of liver and kidney ailments," said Rokon-ud-Dowla. "These manufacturers are killing thousands of people, yet we didn't notice."

We are noticing.

[JACKRUSSELL]

Formaldehyde seems to be one of the most widely found chemicals, used for everything from keeping flies off fresh meat in wet markets to prolonging freshness and enhancing the colour of manufactured foodstuffs.

Government health inspectors have found formaldehyde in the national dish, pho noodle soup......

Formaldehyde has also been problematic in Indonesia, where the Food and Drug Agency found that nearly 60 percent of noodles, salty fish, tofu and meatballs sold in Jakarta markets contained high levels of the preservative.

Formaldehyde has a very distinctive odor. I'm stunned that people didn't notice the smell in their food.

[mom4kittys]

I’m beginning to think the chinese aren’t capable of producing any food item without some form of adulteration.

[#1CTYankee]

http://www.stephenvoss.com/stories/ChinaRiverPollution/photo07.html

[Flavius]

how cant they make anything

when they took all of the world production

and squeezed it into the most polluted sector on the planet

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

TANKS...

[Bonaparte]

Well, thanks to the importation of Chinese food products, America now has heightened concerns about food safety as well.

I've seen things like canned minced clams at my local discount grocery outlet. They're cheaper and lots of people buy them and think they taste just fine. But I won't buy them because I have no idea what's put in them besides clams and the FDA has been "out to lunch" while the Chinese were permitted to inject their poison into our food supply. I won't eat anything that comes from that part of the world.