400 sick: High school students in China riot over mass food poisoning

Posted on March 22, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Thousands of disgruntled students smashed up their high school campus in the southwestern Chinese province of Guizhou in the early hours of Friday morning after an outbreak of food poisoning made hundreds of them sick.

Students at Guizhou’s Puding County No. 1 High School ran riot through their dormitories, smashing windows and prompting China’s ruling Communist Party county leaders to rush to the school to deal with the incident, the county government said in a statement on its website.

It said no one was hurt, but made no mention of the mass food poisoning incident, prompting a slew of critical comments on social media sites.

Social media posts said 3,000 students at the high school’s Hengshui campus near Guizhou’s Anshun city had also staged large-scale protests after more than 400 students became ill.

“Why were the students rioting? Because on Thursday night, the ambulances just kept coming to the campus all night,” one user wrote. “The ambulances came from the People’s Hospital, the Chinese Medicine Hospital and the Youhao Hospital.”

“How must the parents feel when they get to the campus and see their kids at death’s door?”

The tweet said protesting students were also angry over high fees and frequent use of out-of-date foods in the canteen.

Why not today? Can China up food safety if 2022 Olympics held in Beijing?

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Douglas Powell

If China wants to up its food safety, white mice as food tasters is not the way to do it.

But an article in Shanghai Daily states that as a candidate for 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Beijing is eager to show off a wide variety of cuisines to visitors from all over the world.

But wait before serve. What about the safety of your food?

A recent survey by China Youth Daily showed that food safety has become one of the public worries, as well as one of the government’s major concerns.

As the Chinese government is making more efforts, food safety for the general public, hopefully, can be removed from the list of concerns in the years to come.

And for athletes who have higher standards for food, Beijing already has a lot of experience from hosting the 2008 Olympics to make sure their needs met.

Back in 2008, the Olympic Food Safety Action Plan was in place and Beijing also mapped out a preparedness plan to cope with any possible emergencies in food safety during the Olympic Games.

Food for athletes were produced in compliance with strict standards, delivered in a unified way and carried electronic labels recording the whole process from the producer to the eaters.

Even white mice were said to be used to test food including milk, alcohol, salad, rice, oil, salt and seasonings, 24 hours before they are used in cooking or served to athletes.

In China, visitors to resort have to sign Norovirus waiver

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Hundreds of Taiwanese visitors to Taichung’s Hoya Resort Hotel in Wuling have signed an affidavit that they are staying at the resort at their own risk in the midst of an outbreak of norovirus GII.17, a genotype common in certain African nations, reports China Times.

Over 300 visitors to Hoya Resort Hotel Wuling are still coming for the long holiday weekend.

The outbreak over the Lunar New Year holiday of the norovirus, which causes the rapid onset of vomiting and diarrhea, has affected the health of over 200 visitors and employees at the resort. The virus is transmitted through the fecal-oral route, primarily through contaminated food or water.

After the outbreak began, Hoya Resort Hotel Wuling closed for two days. Visitors wishing to continue their stay were given the option of signing the affidavit absolving the hotel from all responsibility should they contract the virus. In addition, the resort will not provide them with food.

The resort is reportedly fully booked for the coming Feb. 28 weekend. The cherry blossoms in the area which bloom briefly as spring nears are a major visitor attraction.

‘I’m massively jaundice and my liver’s pretty crappy’; hepatitis A victim speaks

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Hepatitis A is a pretty nasty foodborne virus, often leading to long term liver issues. According to the Daily Mail, one of the folks in a cluster of hep A illnesses linked Chinese-grown berries in Australia is speaking out.

Trudie Sims, from Ballarat in Victoria, had been using Nanna’s frozen berries in smoothies until Sunday evening, when she was alerted to the health warning which had been issued.

‘I’m really angry … (and) it’s absolutely terrified me’, Ms Sims told Daily Mail Australia.

So far four cases of hepatitis A have been confirmed in Queensland, three in Victoria, and two in New South Wales. Ms Sims’ case could take the national toll to ten.

‘Over the last two to three weeks I’ve been getting quite sick and I just thought it was a flu,’ Ms Sims revealed.

‘Last night I just couldn’t really swallow anymore and I was going to make a frozen drink like I have been for the last four to six weeks,’ she added added.

After her partner Trevor alerted her to the health warning which had been issued when he saw Ms Sims with a packet of Nanna’s berries – he rushed her to hospital.

Since her admission her eyelids have turned yellow and she is exhibiting signs of jaundice.

‘I’m massively jaundice and my liver’s pretty crappy and these are the first signs of hep A from the berries,’ Ms Sims revealed.

Though still awaiting the definitive results of her blood tests, Ms Sims said her doctor was almost certain she had hepatitis A, news which left her in tears.

The Ballarat woman said she feels betrayed by the food company, and claims she was misled over the origin of the product which she thought were Australian made.

‘I’m really angry’, Ms Sims said before adding ‘It’s disgusting. We’re in Australia – we have our own resources.’

She now faces at least a week of unpaid leave from her casual job, is on heavy antibiotics and can’t even kiss her partner.

Ms Sims said she was beside herself when she found out, especially since she and partner Trevor visited his sick mother in hospital just last week. She hopes that she did not pass on any virus.

And the import blame game has started.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Peter Tuohey said not all imported food adhered to Australia’s strict guidelines which were some of the best health and safety standards in the world.

Mr Tuohey urged consumers to always buy Australian made products but conceded identifying those products could be quite challenging.

‘I can only assume that this company is using Chinese berries because they are offering a lower market price,’ he told The Herald Sun. ‘Berries are certainly in season in Australia.’

He said that it was likely the berries were contaminated when they were first picked.

‘They may have been placed on the ground where rats and other vermin could have caused the problem,’ he said.

‘Unfortunately, Australian Customs don’t test every batch, they only check a certain percentage of shipments.’

Chinese govt says: No rats or bats (or daffodils) on the menu for New Year

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Douglas Powell

With just a few days to go before the Chinese New Year, which people celebrate with an abundance of food and merrymaking, China’s government has launched a campaign to prevent virus infections caused by eating ‘strange food’ such as rats, snakes and bats.

Authorities in charge of food safety urged citizens Friday not to consume ‘wild animals’, and above all, not to ‘go over the top’, as it is common for people in certain parts of the country to come up with astonishing dishes, using animals not commonly found on the dinner table.

In the southern Canton province, for example, people savour preparations made from snakes and rats, which is why the authorities are urging everyone, particularly old people, children and pregnant women, to abstain from what it calls strange dishes.

Vietnam buries thousands of cats smuggled for restaurants

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Vietnamese authorities have buried thousands of cats, many apparently still alive, that were seized after being smuggled in a truck from China for restaurants, a police officer said Wednesday.

Cat meat is easily available in some restaurants in Vietnam, especially in the north near the Chinese border, even though the government in 1998 ordered such restaurants closed and banned the trade of cats in an effort to encourage ownership and help keep the country’s rat population under control.

The cats that were buried were dealt with in accordance with the law because they posed an environmental and health risk, said the police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He confirmed that live cats were buried but was uncertain how many.

Police last week had stopped the truck carrying 3 tons of cats in cramped bamboo baskets. The truck driver, to whom the cargo belonged, was fined 7.5 million dong ($360) for smuggling the animals.

Perishable food: China’s cold chain is improving

Posted on January 29, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Though China’s lack of cold-chain facilities and logistics for perishable products has been its Achilles heel, improvements are expected within the next five years, says Keith Hu, Northwest Cherry Growers representative.

Melissa Hansen of Good Fruit Grower writes that China is recognized as one of the hottest markets in the world due to its large population and potential for consumption. Many U.S. agricultural commodity groups, including apple growers, anticipate more open trading in the near future after trade talks in mid-January between the two countries. But is China ready to handle the influx of perishable produce?

Hu visited China last year to better understand China’s cold-chain challenges for cherries and other fresh produce.

China’s lack of cold storage facilities, refrigerated trucks, and retail refrigeration results in food contamination, food waste, and spoilage that limits the reach of most U.S. food products to the coastal cities, he reported during a Washington State Fruit Commission board meeting in December.

Hu noted that food safety is a growing problem in China, and numerous food safety incidents go unreported.

However, cold-chain improvements are being made. Government regulations effective in 2015 will require that 20 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables, 50 percent of meat, and 65 percent of seafood be handled through cold-chain channels, according to Hu. “This is a big milestone for them.”

Substandard oil: China government rejects Ting Hsin’s NT$3B donation for food safety

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The government will not accept a NT$3 billion donation offered by Ting Hsin International Group to promote food safety, Health Minister Chiang Been-huang said Saturday.

Chiang said the conglomerate should first compensate food makers and consumers affected by its substandard oil products.

Ting Hsin has become the target of consumer boycotts since last October, when it was found to be selling cooking oils mixed with animal feed-grade fats.

At the suggestion of Ruentex Group Chairman Samuel Yin, Ting Hsin pledged to donate NT$3 billion to fund a food safety reform committee, intended to be led by Yin himself.

Yin later proposed that Ting Hsin donate the money to the Ministry of Health and Welfare instead to help the government’s efforts to improve food safety.

Why Chinese food safety is so bad

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Almost half of Chinese food-processing plants fail to meet internationally acceptable standards, new figures suggest.

Quality control specialist AsiaInspection said 48% of the “several thousand” inspections, audits and tests it conducted in China last year failed to meet the requirements stipulated by some of its clients — Western food trading companies and retailers.

“There are horror stories, obviously,” Mathieu Labasse, AsiaInspection’s vice president told CNN by phone. “We find factories that just have no basic idea about hygiene standards. People that handle the food, they have no gloves, nothing.”

Labasse said there was a host of reasons for the failings. In some cases, laboratory tests found abnormal levels of pesticides, antibiotics, heavy metals, bacteria or viruses that could put consumers at risk.

Other transgressions included mislabeling packaging, abnormal coloring and odors, bruising and, in the case of seafood, adding water to make the fish appear to weigh more than it does.

Too risky: Petco stops selling pet treats from China

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Petco says it has cleared its store shelves of all dog and cat treats made in China, in response to consumers’ concerns about contamination.

The announcement includes more than 1,300 stores nationwide, including 42 in Ohio, as well as Unleashed by Petco stores and online sales at Petco.com.

Petco says that makes it the first national pet retailer to stop selling China-made pet treats. Petco carries products for dogs, cats, fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and small animals.

“As a trusted partner for pet parents, we believe this is the right thing to do, and we’re proud to take this step in the best interests of pets,” Petco Chief Executive Jim Myers said, in a written statement. Myers is a graduate of John Carroll University. “What we feed our pets matters, and this milestone supports the company’s steadfast commitment to putting our customers, partners, animals and the communities we serve first.”

Petco, based in San Diego and founded in 1965, said it hasn’t carried or sold dog or cat food from China for several years, and that extending that stance to pet treats “allows Petco to expand the assortment of safe and healthy alternatives that are made in the U.S. or in other regions around the globe that support complete pet health.”

barfblog

safe food from farm to fork

Tag Archives: China