2010 Feb 24 Food Safety Must be Our Top Priority!
Catching up on our post-Chunjie reading, we came across this frightening post on the seemingly intractable problem of food safety in China by our favorite food writer and author of Beijing Eats, Eileen Wen Mooney. The post discusses a thesis by Harvard student Leslie Marie Grothaus and a book by Chinese journalist Zhou Qing entitled What Kind of Heaven?, described as an in-depth and unsettling look at food safety problems in China.
Leslie Grothaus’ thesis was written in order “to explore what needs to change here in order for meaningful food safety reform to take place.” Grothaus formulated six steps she believes must be taken for reform to take place, including increasing transparency, creating a clearer legal structure and taking a stronger stand against corruption. Mooney reproduces the full list of recommendations in her post.
Zhou Qing’s book What Kind of Heaven? called for the public to be better educated about what they eat: “The people regard food as their Heaven, so food safety must be our top priority!” In an earlier in-depth post on Zhou's work, Mooney wrote: "Zhou Qing, an investigative reporter, quotes Zhong Nanshan, a very outspoken doctor during the SARS epidemic, as saying that 'The Chinese people are committing a form of slow mass suicide.' Zhou said uncontrolled greed had caused a food disaster of unimaginable proportions. 'I can only warn you never to go in a restaurant.'"
Strong stuff. Although it was published a few years ago, Zhou's book appears to have had little impact if the melamine milk scandal is anything to go by.
The full text of Qing’s book, which details a disturbingly long history of food-related incidents in China, is available in English here.
You might also be interested in :
City to Trim the Fat
Beijing’s health authorities, not content with banning smoking, are now attempting to change the city's eating habits, to the delight of local nutritionists.
News You Might Have Missed: Shoot to Kill And Keep Off the Tracks
Animals have had a hard time of it recently. Hainan welcomes tourists, but not their dogs. Meanwhile, the cat’s out of the bag and into the soup. If that thought doesn't turn your stomach, the toxic milk, oil or peanuts will. As for this week's good news? Line 1 improvements are coming to a subway station near you.
Rise of the Beijing Breakfast Wagon
What did you eat on the way to work this morning? Was it an egg, mystery meat and lettuce sandwich from one of these taxi-coloured wagons? Don't lie. They're everywhere now. The rise of Beijing’s mobile breakfast booths has been meteoric. Well, as state-sanctioned snack wagon expansion projects go. Dongcheng, Chaoyang, Xuanwu ... no district is safe.
Kunming Dreaming: Private Yunnan Cuisine in Little Dongcheng
Restoring siheyuan into hidden, fashionable must-visit hotspots seems to be something of a trend in this city. Beyond the Susus and Great Leaps of Beijing, there is Wuchanju. Socked a little ways up an anonymous hutong in the midst of Jinbao Jie, this Yunnan private kitchen is an oasis of edibility in a desert of high-rises. Wuchanju offers RMB 128, RMB 200 and RMB 500 set menus, and all diners in a given party must purchase the same option. Spend a little more, and you’ll get to try some rarer wild mushrooms, flown in fresh from Yunnan.
Kicking It Entrail-Style on the Trail of Joe Biden
What can be said about Joe Biden's Beijing lunch destination that hasn’t been said already? As I am only a (very) occasional reader of the NYT’s Politics section (though a frequent watcher of Saturday Night Live), I knew nothing of his gastronomic preferences. That was before Biden met Yaoji Chaogan last week. Since then, the popular stall has been pulling even bigger crowds – mostly Chinese tourists, in search of the "Biden set," a replica of the VP’s famous repast. I toddled down to Gulou to give it a shot.
advalorem
Re: Food Safety Must be Our Top Priority!
Why never eat in a restaurant?
danedwards
Re: Food Safety Must be Our Top Priority!
Hi advalorem,
According to Eileen Mooney, Zhou Qing's book details a long list of common, highly dubious practices in restaurants in China. Here's a sample from Eileen's post:
"Red powder, a carcinogenic wood dye, added to prawns during the cooking process to give them a 'healthy' red color that appeals to consumers."
Follow the links above to read more.
Register and post your own events on the beijinger website.