China’s unsafe food products have come under international scrutiny in the past months. While the rest of the world has rebuked China for allowing manufacturers and growers to use toxins in food exports, the domestic food market in China is largely based on cheap, substandard food. This is due to ignorance, greed, corruption, and poverty.
From the International Herald Tribune:
While the discovery of tainted imports from China has shocked Westerners, food safety has long been a problem in much of Asia, where enforcement is lax and food poisoning deaths are not unusual. Hot weather, lack of refrigeration and demand for cheap street food drives vendors and producers to find inexpensive ” and often dangerous ” ways to preserve their products.The food is hot, cheap and tasty ” a combination that often overrides safety concerns in countries where many still live on $2 a day. [Full Text]
See also the People’s Daily article on how Chinese officials are claiming that 20% of China’s agricultural produce is pollution-free.
