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(New York)--A few weeks ago, restaurateur Martin Sheridan discovered his famed "hot and spicy" shrimp came from China. The owner of the Ear Inn, the second-oldest tavern in New York, quickly asked his fish purveyor to "get them from anywhere but China." Last month, the US Food and Drug Administration announced that some Chinese seafood tested positive for banned substances. Because of those findings, which led the FDA to restrict certain seafood from China, some Americans are beginning to look more closely at ocean selections in restaurants – from Hayes Street Grill in San Francisco to Cucina D'Angelo in Boca...

BEIJING -- A national production standard for food fillings has been formulated and is likely to be published by the end of this year, the China General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC) announced on Monday as public doubts linger over the cardboard bun saga. The standard will be applied to most mass-produced food with fillings that are consumed on a daily basis such as buns, dumplings, cakes, bread, and ice-cream. However, it will not cover hand-made food fillings in restaurants and from vendors. Quick-frozen dumpling fillings are also not included in the list because of the "wide variety and complexity" of...

Ordinary Chinese may soon be able to have a taste of the astronaut life when food designed for China's taikonauts lands in supermarkets. The Scientific Research and Training Center for Chinese Astronauts and a Shanghai food company had developed chocolate and desserts for taikonauts and the products would be on the shelves by the end of the year, said Chen Bin, head of the center's food and nutrition branch. "The two items will also been added to the space menu for the next manned space flight Shenzhou VII, the third in China's manned space program in 2008," said Chen, who...

BEIJING--China has not followed through on promises to provide information about what actions it has taken against companies that made products recalled in Europe, the EU's consumer protection chief said Tuesday. The commitment to giving detailed quarterly reports was made in January 2006, but Beijing has only delivered twice since, said European Union Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva. "The first report was very poor," Kuneva said at a news conference. "The second was better but still not sufficient. That's why I am here." Kuneva's comments came amid global concerns over the safety of Chinese goods because of potentially dangerous levels of...

When the State Council Information Office held a press conference recently to answer questions from the media on food and drug safety, it was a clear sign of the government's commitment to tackling the problems caused by some food and medicine exporters. Following the conference, several government departments launched investigations into the guilty companies and suspended their export licenses in a bid to protect the country's reputation as a major exporter of agricultural products. As a matter of fact, the government gives great importance to the matter of food safety. Food products to be exported to Japan, for example, are...

Natural Products Association, a trade group for dietary-supplement manufacturers, will test the purity and composition of raw materials from China, which was accused of exporting tainted products used in medicine and pet food. The U.S. Pharmacopeia, a nonprofit organization that sets standards for over-the-counter and prescription drugs, supplements and other health products, will perform the tests in its Shanghai laboratory, the trade group said Saturday in a statement released by PR Newswire. ``By testing raw materials in China, we're adding another layer of consumer protection to a process that has delivered good health products to Americans for generations,'' said David...

An increasing number of supermarkets and department stores have started removing products imported from China--mainly foodstuffs--from their shelves, following a string of revelations of tainted or defective Chinese-made products. Ahead of the midsummer Day of the Ox, when people traditionally eat eel, which falls on July 30 this year, many shops have decided not to sell eel imported from China, after the United States restricted imports of Chinese eel and other farmed seafood imported from China after it was found to be contaminated with unapproved antibiotics. Observers say consumers' distrust of Chinese products became noticeable after the incident. But some...

......At the top of the Australian list are crustaceans, followed by cereal, fruit juice, preserved vegetables and confectionary. They are largely cheap top-ups to products usually supplied by now drought-stricken fruit and vegetable farmers or aquaculturists unable to meet local demand for prawns. So far, Australian regulators have demanded the national recall of only one product from China, toothpaste containing diethylene glycol. The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service says no Chinese imports have been confiscated since the food safety scares emerged in the US and other nations. ......One case in point is Birds Eye frozen vegetables. According to Terry O'Brien,...

That loaf of Sara Lee bread on the grocery shelf in San Jose was made with flour from U.S. wheat. But the Illinois-based food giant uses honey and vitamin supplements from China. While Paul Newman's daughter uses California figs in cookies made by her Aptos organic food company, she turns to Mexico and Austria for other ingredients. And even though a Procter & Gamble spokeswoman described Crest toothpaste "as a truly American product," it uses additives from China and Finland. Recent reports of tainted imports from China have focused new attention on a little-known trend: In today's global economy, more...

The public can enjoy hairy crabs from China this fall without reservations, Bureau of Food Safety officials said yesterday. "A series of new protective measures will ensure that we don't have a repeat of last year's tainted crab scandal," Hsieh Ting-hung, the deputy director of the bureau under the Department of Health (DOH), told a press conference. Last October, during the peak of the hairy crab season, metabolites of the banned antibiotic substance nitrofuran were found in batches of hairy crabs from China. However, as the crabs were put on the market before the results of food safety tests were...

China will meet with the US at the end of the month to discuss a block on its seafood exports and the establishment of a cooperation mechanism on food safety, a senior quality control official said yesterday. The meeting has been scheduled for July 31 to August 4 in Beijing, Li Yuanping, head of the import and export safety bureau of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said. The US representatives will be Rich McKeown and William Steiger, chief of staff and special assistant to the secretary for international affairs with the US Department of Health...

(SHANGHAI)--Chinese regulators said Friday that they had revoked the licenses of three companies that had exported mislabeled drug ingredients and tainted pet food ingredients to the United States and other parts of the world. The action comes as Beijing has gone on the offensive, trying to show that regulators here are moving swiftly to help ease global worries about the quality and safety of Chinese exports after months of worrisome product recalls and reports about defective or tainted Chinese goods. China closed the Taixing Glycerin Factory, which has been accused of exporting diethylene glycol, which is sometimes used to make...

The Chinese Embassy in Washington has urged the US to treat China's food and drug exports in a scientific and fair manner, saying exaggeration and complication of the issue is not conducive to the healthy development of bilateral trade. The embassy issued a statement on Thursday after a series of disputes over the quality of products between the two. The embassy said it hoped the US would not exaggerate or play up individual food safety cases and create a "China food and drug threat", giving the American public the wrong impression. "Blowing up, complicating or politicizing the issue is irresponsible,"...

Concerns about the safety and reliability of food and other products from China are growing, but are those fears realistic? At a downtown store, Salvador Guerra squints to read the fine print on a package of hot dogs. Three things most concern him: price, expiry date and country of origin. "Usually, I am very careful but what can you do?" says Guerra, an ESL teacher. "These days, all the brands, they're made in China." Flanked by two of his students, Guerra, piles buns and hot dogs into a shopping cart for a Centre Island picnic with his students. Recent food...

SACRAMENTO—State health officials issued a public warning Friday against eating certain candy from Mexico that appears tainted with high levels of lead. Department of Public Health Director Dr. Mark Horton warned consumers not to eat De La Rosa Pulparindo candy imported from Mexico. ......De La Rosa Pulparindo is a tamarind pulp candy that comes packed in 10-ounce boxes containing individually wrapped half-ounce candies. The boxes are bright red in color with the word "Pulparindo" boldly printed in black letters.......

(San Lucas, Calif.) -- After days of intense negotiations the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, on Thursday evening, July 19, unanimously passed its version of the 2007 Farm Bill. By voice vote the committee adopted clarifications to the country of origin labeling law (COOL) just before it approved the new five-year farm policy package in total. The U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) was actively engaged in the negotiation process, helping fend off several attempts by opponents to weaken COOL. Under the committee’s plan, three different labels were created to identify the country of origin for meat, including "Product of the U.S." meaning...

Some farmers in China are taking advantage of confusing rules to falsely label food. The word "wholesome" doesn't exactly spring to mind when describing Chinese exports these days. But for years now, Chinese farmers have fed soaring global demand for organic foods. China's organic exports totaled $350 million in 2005 (the most recent data available)—up from $150 million the previous year—according to China's largest organic food certification agency. The country now represents 5% of global trade in such products, up to this level today from 1.2% in 2004. And that share is bound to grow as more land is converted...

Amid growing awareness of food perils, companies that spotlight where ingredients originate are enjoying new demand. Earlier this year, Swiss ingredient maker DSM Nutritional Products launched a "premium" Vitamin C. The marketing gambit: It comes from tidy Scotland instead of sprawling China, which provides 80% of the world's supply. But it was a tough sell. "We were struggling to get the price we thought was justified by the quality," says communications chief Alex Filz. No more. Not after contaminated products from China ended up on supermarket shelves. Suddenly, "Not Made in China" has become a major selling point. DSM's Quali-C...

SAN FRANCISCO – On a recent afternoon in San Francisco's Chinatown, tourists and locals shopped along Stockton Street for cheap foods such as ginger, bok choy and dried fish. Reports of the contaminated food products from China don't seem to faze those who have been using Chinese products for years. Xue Peng Wang, a middle-aged man from China waiting for a bus with a bagful of oranges, looks a bit puzzled when asked if he would still buy Chinese goods in light of recent negative reports. "Habits become one's second nature," he says. "Those reports don't affect me at all...

Bay Area retailers and restaurants that rely on large quantities of frozen seafood from China could see a dwindling supply as large importers report that seafood container ships are not leaving Chinese docks. Seattle-based Tai Foong USA has products in Bay Area stores and said the supply of shrimp is already disrupted. That's because Chinese suppliers are choosing not to export while they test the catch. The Chinese government, fighting a tsunami of bad publicity is now conducting lab tests on seafood exports for banned antibiotics and chemicals suspected of causing cancer. Wenonah Hauter with Food and Water Watch said...

HANGZHOU, China -- In spring 2006, an essay appeared on the Internet detailing collusion between the Chinese government's food and drug watchdog agency and a pharmaceutical venture. It accused the country's highest-ranking regulator of accepting a lakeside house and hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Kangliyuan Group in exchange for production licenses. The problem is "darker and 100 times worse" than what was previously known, wrote the anonymous author. By that time, dozens had died from consuming fake infant formula, tainted antibiotics and other products. Initially posted on only a handful of online industry discussion boards, the provocative e-mail...

SHANGHAI, CHINA - A Chinese candy maker has denied Philippine claims that one of its products contains potentially cancer causing formaldehyde, the latest in a string of allegations against Chinese food. Shanghai-based Guan Sheng Yuan Co. said in a statement posted on its Web site Wednesday that its "White Rabbit" brand of milk candy was among several Chinese products ordered removed from stores by the Philippine Bureau of Food and Drugs due to formaldehyde tainting. The company said it immediately submitted samples to an internationally certified testing laboratory in Shanghai on hearing the news Sunday and had already received the...

A China journalist has been arrested for fabricating a report about street vendors who used chemical-soaked cardboard to fill meat buns, state media says. The Beijing municipal government said investigations had found that the Beijing Television freelance reporter had fabricated the story for higher audience ratings, the China Daily reported. The report by the journalist, surnamed Zi, had come amid a spate of real food scares and added to local and international concerns about made-in-China products. The story, allegedly shot with a hidden camera, was broadcast on Beijing Television and relayed nationwide by China Central Television last week and created...

WASHINGTON -- The Chinese Embassy says China is working to stop the export to the United States of tainted food and substandard products but said Americans should first deal with flaws in their own system. ......U.S. news reports are exaggerating the significance of adulteration in products exported to the United States, the statement said, and more than 99 percent of U.S. imports from China were without flaws. ......"The Chinese side hopes that the U.S. side will respect science and treat China's food and drug exports fairly, will not exaggerate or play up individual food safety cases and still less (create...

Consumers turning to organic food in the wake of warnings about antifreeze-laden toothpaste, poisoned pet food, and antibiotic-laced fish may be in for a surprise. The same country blamed for those scares, China, is quietly muscling in on the organic market. Upscale grocery chains like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods now import popular organic snacks such as edamame and canned staples such as kidney beans from China. That has made some buyers looking for pristine, all-natural food a bit skittish. ......Organic produce imported from China carries the U.S. Department of Agriculture's organic logo and is certified by private firms authorized...

WASHINGTON -- Dusted shrimp, a specialty item that takes its name from a light flour coating that clings to the shrimp, were a blip on import records a few years ago. But by last year, imports of dusted shrimp -- mostly from China -- exploded to an estimated 26 million pounds. Why? Critics say Chinese exporters are exploiting an inadvertent but lucrative loophole, highlighting just how difficult it could be to coax the Chinese to play by US rules when it comes to improving food safety. Dusting shrimp transforms it into a product that is not subject to punitive tariffs...

WASHINGTON -- At a time when Chinese products have come under fire for being defective, "Made in China" labels still mean good quality and value for money to US consumers as up-to-date statistics show the majority of Chinese goods meet US standards. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on June 28 a block on imports of five species of seafood from China because of so-called contamination. The announcement, coupled with reports of contaminated pet food ingredients, led some American media to place an equals sign between "Made in China" and substandard products. However, a closer look at the...

(KAILUA-KONA)--Even though Hawaii tropical fruit growers are challenged by inconsistent supplies and lower-priced Asian imports, specialty fruits such as lychee and rambutan have become a multimillion-dollar industry. On the Big Island, thousands of exotic fruit trees are being planted each year, and as they mature, production is expected to increase. As Hawaii's pineapple production falls off, exotic fruits have become more common. "The tropical fruit industry is strong and growing," said Bob Hamilton, a top Big Island fruit grower. "We have good support. We're improving and learning how to get better." While the state's reputation for fabulous fruit is solid,...

Four candy brands manufactured in China, including the popular White Rabbit, were banned yesterday by the government for containing formaldehyde, a substance used for embalming. The Department of Health (DOH) and the Bureau of Food and Drugs urged the public “to refrain from buying and consuming” White Rabbit Creamy Candy, Milk Candy, Balrong Grape Biscuits and Yong Kang Foods Grape Biscuits in an advisory signed by BFAD director Leticia Barbara-Gutierrez. The BFAD urged importers, distributors and other establishments selling the candies to withdraw them from the market until there is evidence that they are safe and fit for human consumption....

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ability of ensure the safety of food in America is "minimal," investigators warned a Congressional committee on Tuesday. Food importers have found ways to avoid federal oversight of the products they ship into the United States, putting consumers at risk, the investigators told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's subcommittee on the FDA and food safety. For example, when it comes to fish, importers sometimes route product through an inland point of entry, such as Las Vegas, instead of a big Pacific port city, the Associated Press reported. Importers can also get around...

As if U.S. consumers don't have enough to worry about, what with anti-freeze-tainted toothpaste making its way all the way from China, tainted pet food from China and toys with lead-based paint, here's another thing to be very worried about: The U.S. imports 6.6 million tons of seafood, from 160 countries, and just over 1 percent of it gets inspected. Taras Grescoe, writing in The New York Times, observes that the Food and Drug Administration has just 85 inspectors assigned to checking seafood. Those 85 FDA inspectors catch some of the filthy crab meet from Indonesia, salmonella-infected shrimp from Thailand...

<p>Hundreds of millions of people fall ill every year or die prematurely from air and water pollution caused by China's breakneck economic growth, one of the world's leading economic thinktanks has concluded following an 18-month investigation.</p> <p>China's water quality causes the researchers great concern. One third of the length of all China's rivers are now "highly polluted" as are 75% of its major lakes and 25% of all its coastal waters. Nearly 30,000 children die from diarrhoea due to polluted water each year.</p>

<p>It was only when pollution literally started to bloom across the lakes of China earlier this summer that the country's leaders finally sounded full alarm on the environment.</p> <p>Blue-green algae blooms choked Lake Taihu - China's third biggest source of freshwater - in May, forcing 5 million people to use bottled water for drinking and bathing.</p>

CBNNews.com - Concern about food made in China has the government there scrambling -- and many shoppers here in the U.S. confused. With billions of food dollars at stake, serious damage control efforts are underway, both here and overseas. Trusting his gut, Frank Davis of Utah added a label to the vitamins he makes, 100 percent China-free. "I don't want to offend China," Davis said. "I'm just concerned about what's going into products, where it's coming from." A new poll confirms his instinct, finding that 74 percent of grocery shoppers in the U.S. are concerned about food from China. And...

......Why is China having these problems? In a span of 15 years, China has gone from a country that struggled to feed its population to a major food exporter. Domestic food-borne illnesses have plagued China for years, but the rest of the world has become aware of the problem only recently as China began exporting its products...... • Food for Health International, a Utah-based company that makes nutritional supplements for people and pets, will begin labeling its products "China-free" to allay contamination concerns.   • Twelve different U.S. federal agencies are responsible for implementing 35 primary food-safety regulation laws.   • China grows...

"Made in China." Suddenly, they're the three most alarming words in the English language. Go to any big box store, supermarket, toy shop: When you weren't paying attention (but enjoying the bargains), everything became Made in China, or made with stuff that's made in China, or made with stuff-that's-made-with-stuff that's made in China...... ......Consider the pet food calamity. One of the country's biggest pet food companies, Menu Foods, decided it needed a new supplier of a single ingredient: wheat gluten. It turned to a Las Vegas company named ChemNutra that specializes in importing food and drug ingredients from China --...

Incidents of contaminated pet food, toothpaste and fish from China doubtless have made some American consumers want to know more about the origin of the nation's food supply. But a federal law requiring beef, lamb, pork, produce and peanuts sold in grocery stores to carry labels indicating what country they came from will not be implemented until Oct. 1, 2008, a key congresswoman said this week. "The situation with China has definitely strengthened our hand," said Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., who sponsored the original legislation in 2002. "It has highlighted the problems that exist. All consumers are asking for is...

BEIJING -- Scanning the headlines in the Chinese press, it's easy to conclude that the global brouhaha over product safety is not about China -- but about America. Investigative reports in the state-run media delve into the case of an exploding cellphone purportedly made by U.S.-based Motorola that allegedly killed a young man. They warn consumers not to use contact-lens solution produced by U.S.-based Advanced Medical Optics, which has been linked to rare cases of blindness. And they play up recalls of U.S. beef. Faced with mounting international concern over the safety of some of the products it exports, the...

WUGONG LAKE, China -- ......Zhu's fish farm, in a village on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, sends 2.7 million catfish fillets each year to the United States through a Virginia importer. Despite his best efforts -- he has dozens of employees clearing trash from the water each day, and the fish are fed sacks of fish meal more expensive than rice -- Zhu's fish sometimes get sick. Then he brings out the drugs. "It's standard practice," he said. "Everyone uses them to keep fish healthy." Chinese exporters like him have seized much of the US market, accounting for...

SHANGHAI, July 14 — China said late Friday that it was suspending imports of some chicken and pork produced in the United States after inspectors here found shipments that were contaminated with chemicals or bacteria. The government said it would immediately block imports from some of the United States’s biggest meat producers, including Tyson Foods and Cargill, and also strengthen inspections of American meat to guard against health risks. The decision appears to be a response to growing criticism in the United States of tainted Chinese goods entering the American market, including contaminated food and toothpaste...... ......China has fought back,...

At its freshest and best, garlic not only is a zestful seasoning but it's a healthy food, as well. It's our biggest vegetable import from China. At the White Dog Cafe in Philadelphia, chef Andrew Brown is using tender young garlic scapes from Green Meadow Farm in Gap while anticipating the July harvest of regular, red and elephant bulbs from Overbrook Herb Farm in Lansdale. The garlic used by chef Frank Maragos at Foti's, in Culpeper, Va., comes from nearby Campi di Sogni Farm, where owner Juliana De Santis grows about 30 kinds. But most of us buy garlic at...

The manufacturer of recalled Veggie Booty snacks says that seasoning imported from China is to blame for a recent outbreak of Salmonella poisoning linked to the popular children’s treat. Robert’s American Gourmet Food, Inc., the Long Island-based maker of the Veggie Booty snack, said in a press release that its own tests confirmed that the seasoning was the source of the Salmonella bacteria. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had issued the Veggie Booty recall order June 28 after more than 50 cases of Salmonella poisoning were reported in people who had eaten the snack. Last week, Robert’s voluntarily expanded...

NANNING, China -- For nearly two decades, Lai Mandai regularly ate and sold beans, cabbage and watermelons grown on a plot of land a short walk from a lead smelting plant in her village. Like dozens of other villagers who ate locally grown food, Ms. Lai, 39 years old, developed health problems. "When I did work, planting vegetables or cleaning the floor, I felt so tired, and my fingers felt numb," Ms. Lai says. "I talked with other villagers. They had the same problems." Ms. Lai, along with 57 other villagers, was eventually diagnosed with high levels of cadmium, a...

A majority of the Chinese media still view foreign coverage of the tainted food scandal as Western efforts to put down their country. For weeks, as questions have multiplied over the safety of China's exports of food and other consumer goods, the Chinese media have had a consistent refrain. US complaints about China's products are part of a mounting trade war. They are the expression of efforts by Westerners to keep China down, to invent what the Chinese media have called a "China threat" to manipulate public opinion. Exceptions can be found to this line, particularly regarding safety issues involving...

(Cape Town) - Jobs on pineapple farms and at two canning factories in the Eastern Cape are at risk after a consignment of 100 tons of canned pineapples was discovered to contain the heavy metal cadmium, found in a fertiliser from China. Allen Duncan, the chairman of the Pineapple Association in East London, which represents 40 farmers, said cadmium was not dangerous to humans in small quantities, but was toxic in larger doses. The cadmium levels found in the exported canned pineapples exceeded the maximum of 0.05 part per million (ppm) deemed permissible by the EU. The US, Australia and...

(NEW YORK)--While China is hammered for defective food exports to the United States, government records showed that food products from India and Mexico have been rejected more often than those from China, The New York Times said Thursday. Data from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) showed that the federal agency rejected a total of 1,763 food shipments from India, 1,480 shipments from Mexico and 1,368 shipments from China in the 12-month period ending in June this year. But the FDA did not reveal the quantity of the products turned back, making it impossible to determine whether it was...

Tens of thousands of farmers from throughout Italy protested Wednesday against labels that don't specify the origin of agricultural products, saying cheap imports from China were hurting their bottom line. Protesters marched through downtown Bologna demanding the implementation of a law approved by parliament last year that would force Italian companies to specify on labels the origin of the ingredients of foods and drugs. The Coldiretti agriculture lobby, which organized the demonstration, said 150,000 people participated. Coldiretti said that large-scale food-processing companies increasingly purchase raw foods abroad at low prices and mix them with Italian-grown products, which remains legal. The...

BEIJING - The Chinese government will support the development of environmentally friendly farming practices, like growing organic produce, to help raise food safety standards, the agriculture ministry said on Monday. In the past three years the area of land under cultivation using "harm free", "green" or just plain organic methods has grown fourfold and now accounts for one-fifth of China's agriculture, the official Farmers' Daily said. Sales of environmentally friendly agricultural products last year exceeded 300 billion yuan (US$39.34 billion), including US$3 billion of exports, added the newspaper, published by the Ministry of Agriculture. "Rapidly developing (environmentally friendly farming) is...

BEIJING - China, facing increased international pressure for exporting unsafe products, will update and strengthen enforcement of its food safety standards, the head of the country's regulatory body said Wednesday. Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine was blamed for dog and cat deaths in North America. Other products turned away by U.S. inspectors include toxic monkfish, frozen eel and juice made with unsafe color additives, while Chinese-made toothpaste has been rejected by handful of countries. "China will speed up revisions to national and industry standards on farm produce and processed food products," Liu Pingjun, chief of the National...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese farm products are getting safer, the government said on Tuesday, citing tests of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish in major cities that showed more than 95 percent of products were up to standard. The Ministry of Agriculture, eager to reassure consumers following a series of safety scandals, said on its Web site (www.agri.gov.cn) that all meat and poultry products tested in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, Tianjin and Kunming were up to scratch. "The proportion of vegetables tested which were up to standard when it came to farm chemical residues in 37 cities was the highest in recent...