Here is a list of 50 foods or products that have been tainted in varies of food safety incidents over recent years in China. Your practical watch list, translated by CDT from a blog repost (cross reference when viewing the photos with brief introductions below). This is a sampling of cases and is not comprehensive:

Toxic rice noodles, made from stale rice with whitening chemicals. Stale rice itself contains carcinogens.

Toxic pickled cabbage, made by stamping cabbage leaves in a tub with coloring chemicals, some carcinogens.

Toxic steamed buns, made with either whitening or browning chemicals for people of different tastes/colors.

Toxic bottled water, with the bottles made from recycled plastic materials, some imported trash.

Toxic tea leaves, with chemical-intensive pesticides before picking and coloring compounds after with high concentrations of lead, and other heavy metals.

Toxic canned foods, made with unripe fruits and whitening or coloring chemicals, some carcinogens.

Toxic popcorn, made with excessive amounts of saccharin, a sweetener that causes neural and kidney damage, and sometimes cancer.

Toxic stinky tofu, made with blackening chemicals or liquid made from rotten meat or flies to soak dried tofu.

Toxic vinegar, made from mixing water with acetate or diluting vinegar acid with water or other liquids, causing concentrations of heavy metals.

Used oil, collected from dirty oily liquids mixed in the sewage from hotels or restaurants.

Toxic tofu, made from stale food materials and whitening chemicals that causes kidney or liver damage, sometimes cancer.

Toxic bean sprouts, whose growth is expedited by chemicals that could cause cancer, liver or stomach damage.

Toxic instant noodles, made from used oil collected from hotels or restaurants instead of high quality oil for frying the noodles.

Toxic honeydew, made from stewing sugar, water and sulfur acid, or processing crops into jelly sugar liquids.

Toxic dog meat, from dogs killed by baiting with rat poison, etc

Toxic sunflower/watermelon seeds, pan fried by chemicals that give the seeds a polished look but with dangerous chemicals.

Toxic hot pot, with appetizing sauce in the soup that at high temperatures produces carcinogenic compounds.

Toxic seafood, inflated and whitened by chemicals that cause skin infections and could damage the digestive system.

Toxic soy sauce, made from human hair, animal bones, blood clots and other chemicals, with concentration of carcinogens.

Toxic leeks, washed by highly poisonous pesticides that cause headache, nausea and coma, etc.

Toxic liquor, made from industrial ethanol with water and other liquids, could cause coma or even death.

Toxic foam lunch boxes, made from used plastic materials and other banned chemicals.

Toxic chili sauce, made by adding chemicals such as “Sudan red,” which tainted sauces at McDonald’s and KFC’s  in China a few years ago.

Toxic thick rice noodles, processed with DDT and other poisonous chemicals to add more flavor.

Toxic pot-roast, processed with industrial chemicals, whitening materials and other poisonous compounds.

Toxic rice, reprocessed from stale rice, which itself contains carcinogens.

Toxic dried fruits, processed with preservatives and other coloring chemicals that are poisonous.

Toxic flour, made by adding whitening and other carcinogenic chemicals.

Toxic noodles, made by adding whitening compounds and other poisonous materials that make the noodles more tender.

Toxic fungi, processed with trashed fungus products and soaked with ink and other chemicals for drying and coloring.

Toxic milk powder, with low concentrations of protein and other nutrients, worse than water for babies.

Toxic preserved eggs, processed with a lot of chemicals that infiltrate into the eggs with heavy metals.

Toxic eggs, processed with reddening chemicals that cause stomach damage and may also cause leukemia.

Toxic meat, from animals that were injected with hormones or antibiotics to stimulate growth.

Toxic dry toufu skin, mixed with chemical to make the color brighter and more attractive.

Toxic Seaweed, added chemicals for color and softness.

Toxic shredded meat, made from dead pigs and processed with bad bread crumbs.

Toxic kabobs, made from goat organs or dead pig meat, cat etc.

Toxic vegetables, largely containing pesticide residue.

Toxic potato chips, these starch-containing foods produce a possible carcinogen when heated at high temperatures.

Toxic fish, whose growth is stimulated by adding chemicals that may contain contraceptive drugs or carcinogens.

Toxic fruits, whose growth is stimulated by chemicals that may cause neural disruptions, cancer etc.

Toxic sausages, made from the meat of sick pigs or other animals.

Toxic duck blood, made from cheap pig blood or other animal blood with some chemicals during processing.

Toxic salt, possibly made from a mom-and-pop shop that used industrial salt and some food-grade salt to mix and process.

Toxic silver fungus, whitened by chemicals that have a strong effect on the eyes and the respiratory system.

Toxic deep-fried dough sticks, colored by lead-rich chemicals that could cause damage to the brain.

Toxic mustard turnips, processed with chemicals and whitening compounds that cause damage to the digestive system, liver and kidney.

Toxic pig fat oil, made from burning the fat of dead pigs or ill pigs.

More Chinese media or netizens’ investigation on food safety issues are here.