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Buying from China

  1. #9
    aussiegal is offline Registered User
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    I think Matty's comment is spot on "The difference with food scares in the rest of the world compared to China, is that in the rest of the world it is a mistake, where as a lot of it in China is deliberate, to cut costs."

    With regards to the recent pet food scandal where at least 14 dogs died and god knows how many humans were affected as it was also fed to livestock the company involved deliberately added melamine to the grain to make it appear higher in protein than they were...

    Quoting from USA Today- "Luo Yunbo, head of the Food Science and Nutritional Engineering Institute at China's Agricultural University, said that some Chinese food manufacturers include additives that are inappropriate.

    "Sometimes people lack enough knowledge of additives, or even if they do know, they still do it," he said. "The current penalties are very small and should be much heavier. Some companies are fined and then move somewhere else and do it again," he said.
    "Farmers are always looking for profit, and sometimes they do not meet our national standards.."

    Yes we have a choice and if you can afford to buy imported food do it but what about all the people who can't?


  2. #10
    Matty is offline Registered User
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    Neha, the cardboard story was filmed, and the man described the process he was using to make these pork buns, as he did not know the undercover investigator had a hidden camera.
    I saw it myself.
    Yes, he is now in jail, I'm a little confused by what you are refering to as a lie.


  3. #11
    bekyboo44 is offline Registered User
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    Who is in jail?

    The facotry owner who put cardboard in the pork buns, or the reporter who uncovered the story?

    The Chinese government routinely imprisons reporters, journalists, and indeed anyone who they believe might taint the image of China around the world....


  4. #12
    mailmail is offline Registered User
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    Neha is right, the story is a hoax, read here:-
    http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/arti...cle_327042.htm
    This is widely reported in all newspapers. I think some of us need to read more newspaper so that our minds are more opened. Food safety issues do not just happen in China alone, it may be in anywhere in the world, I agree with Neha when she says,"I agree that there is lot of bad stuff out of China, but really it is not possible to cut everything made in China and I firmly beleive if anything bad is to to happen will happen irrespective of how many precautions u take. That doesnot mean that u dont precautions . I just feel that things are getting blown out of proportion here. I am careful what we eat etc but atthe same time I am not paranoid.". Did you guys not read about the Meat Hope scam, Ishiya Chocolate Factory scam, Fujiyo-Peko scam, it happens in Japan as well!!!


  5. #13
    loupou is offline Baby Guru
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    I've lived in Hong Kong for the past 15 years. I buy fruit & vegetables and meat & fish at the wet market. I prefer to eat meat that has been slaughtered this morning, than eat an animal that was slaughtered who-knows-when and then flown in.

    Same reason I'm a bit sad over the demise of the local chicken stalls. I feel more secure if I can see that the bird looks healthy & active and is killed very close to the time of cooking.

    Fish - again prefer live or very fresh to frozen in the supermarket. But yes we did avoid eels during the malachite green scare.

    I do end up buying meat from NZ & Australia in the supermarket from time to time, because I'm shopping there and don't want to make an extra trip to a different shop.

    Dairy products:
    I buy the local (Dairy farm) yoghurt sometimes, mostly as a starter for my own yoghurt. I buy the same brand of sour cream & cottage cheese. I buy the NZ "Mainland" cheddar because that's the only reduced-fat cheddar that I like. The parmesan and fancy cheese - also imported.

    Olive oil & fancy vinegars - imported. Wine - not Chinese. Beer - whatever catches my husband's fancy. He's been into the Tsingtao lately, but other times he likes Heineken, and still other, Fosters.

    My husband and I are a little careful about buying some products (would prefer HK-made noodles, for example, over Chinese-made). But, you can only spend so much time worrying about things like that.
    I get more worried about packaged food than fresh stuff - but I just bought some frozen xiao long bao for the kids as a treat for the start of school next week.

    When we buy our fruit & veggies, we wash them carefully & some we peel.

    IMHO it's silly to spend 3 times the price to buy Australian carrots instead of local carrots. But, it's not my $ and if that's one's pleasure: go for it. I probably spend $ on some things that are important to me that others might think silly.


  6. #14
    Sleuth is offline Registered User
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    Quote Originally Posted by bekyboo44 View Post
    The Chinese government routinely imprisons reporters, journalists, and indeed anyone who they believe might taint the image of China around the world....
    Indeed, they put out a warning to journalists about reporting this stuff. We try not to buy food from China. Can't totally avoid it, but we do look and buy from elsewhere. We consider ourselves to be honorary Aussies due to the amount of food we buy from there.

  7. #15
    aussiegal is offline Registered User
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    Mailmail, i take everything i read in local papers and Mainland (online or traditional) with a grain of salt. China is trying hard to reverse the perception we westerners have of the country and I simply don't believe that 1) they report everything bad that happens - just enough to make some of us think they do and 2) that they don't write out right lies when it suits. I saw the filming of the cardboard/pork bun incident and i'm sticking with the original story which holds it to be true. Let's just remember that in China even today there is no such thing as real freedom of the press.


  8. #16
    mailmail is offline Registered User
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    I totally see your point, but why single out China when everything you said happens everywhere in the world. Even USA has no such thing as absolute freedom of the press, probably more so than China. As for food scams in the US which was not just plain mistakes, but deliberate so as to cut cost, we can have a taste of it through the book "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlossar, ditto on European countries and Japaneses (I quoted the three most recent food scams/scandals in my last post). All these were NOT mistakes, but deliberate so as to cut costs. The owners/management of these corporations are just greedy and immoral, period. It happens everywhere in the world. Yet, I must say, Australia, so far has been very trustworthy when it comes to food safety and standards. So, I completely understand why you feel safer buying food imported from Australia.


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