Buying from China
- 08-22-2007, 01:58 PM #25Registered User
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- Mar 2006
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- Discovery Bay, Hong Kong
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- 736
I'm a permanent resident, have lived in HK since I was a young teenager, and consider Hong Kong home....but I still refuse to put my family's health in danger because a mainland farm or food producing company is desperate to cut costs, or increase their profit margin.
There is no excuse for substandard food on our shelves, and no reason why we should not demand that food and health safety regulations are adhered to as they should be.
The Chinese govt. seems to think it 'unpatriotic' to tarnish China's image in anyway, but that is not a philiosphy I plan to buy into.
I don't think anyone is attacking China personally....the issue was raised after several food and non food items made in China were reacalled and advertised in the press...it seemed to be product after product and it's only natural that people were concerned.
If product after product had been found to of been unsafe, and made in the USA, Australia, Eurpope etc. then this post would have focused on products from those countries.
I think the issue of the safety of the food coming from China affects all of us as HK residents, regardless of wether we are expats, locals etc.
We all have a right to know that the food we are feeding our families is safe for them to eat, both in the short and long term.
I've read the SCMP for many years and have often complained about it's lack of substance....but never had reason to suspect it of anything apart from absolute neutrality....until reading it the other day, I did begin to question wether maybe it had been taken over by a mainland company....but we all read things different wats.
- 08-22-2007, 09:27 PM #26Registered User
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- Jan 2006
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- Fo Tan
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Boy, what started out as a question about buying Chinese food has now seen posts mentioning press censorship, the Iraq war, Chinese patriotism, the Olympics, the use of the forum, the people who use this forum, etc.... Very far reaching discussion.
Regardless, we still try to limit the amount of food from China we eat. Unfortunately, it is impossible to avoid. Sort of like the toys.
- 08-23-2007, 02:56 PM #27Baby Guru
- Join Date
- Mar 2003
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- New Territories
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- 451
Aussiegal,
I do not think that my reply was "I've been eating mainland food for years and I'm fine.". Instead, I wrote what steps I take to be careful (washing things carefully, choosing HK-made processed foods over Chinese, etc.).
You wrote:
"if you are a local and have grown up eating mainland produce you will have immunity from most things you might pick up."
As I wrote in my initial reply - I did not grow up here, but I have lived here for 15 years.
It sounds by the quote above, what you fear is bacteria (you mention "immunity"). In that case, following the "local" methods of soaking and washing produce carefully is a useful practice to deal w/ Chinese grown produce.
Nor was I denying that censorship & manipulation exist. Your could perhaps say that I was "downplaying" it, because I pointed out that the censorship is not complete and overwhelming & that information does often get through; and the situation is much better than it was years ago, even 10 years ago.
I do not think that you have been "censored". Some people have disagreed with some of your sweeping statements and generalizations. That is not censorship.
I myself did what I thought was a gentle reminder asking you to be aware of other people's feelings when you write. That is not censorship either.
- 08-23-2007, 03:31 PM #28Registered User
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- Jan 2007
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- Southside
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Quoting Loupou "I do not think that you have been "censored". Some people have disagreed with some of your sweeping statements and generalizations. That is not censorship.
I myself did what I thought was a gentle reminder asking you to be aware of other people's feelings when you write. That is not censorship either."
when it comes to my families health i am more than happy to be accused of generalizations with regards to buying food from china. In any case, i'm more than confident i either already have or could back up every statement i have made.
As for being aware of other people's feelings - i find that an odd comment. How can any Mainlander or Local take any negative comments made here (directed at China) personally if they are not personally responsible? It would be like me taking offence when someone says that public transport is bad in Sydney....
The immunity comment was not meant to be interpreted as only being concerned with bacteria, though that is a concern. What i did mean is that locals or people like yourself who have grown up eating food from China and as such have developed a 'tolerance' for what is put in mainland food - fillers, msg etc, stuff that is not allowed in most western countries.
Peace out!
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