What's In Your Food?

I LOVE to eat and I love Beijing because there is an excellent restaurant scene here. Nearly all of my favorites cuisines can be found here-Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, Mexican, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, American, and obviously many Chinese cuisines (Sichuanese, Cantonese, Yunanese, etc.).  The authenticity of the food can range from being somewhat authentic to very authentic. Though I love to eat, I have to be very careful because of various food safety issues.

Delicious German Breakfast

Excellent Chinese Food at Black Sesame Kitchen

Who wants some brisket, deep fried pickles or pulled pork?

China’s food safety issues come from its lax food regulations and the quickly developing economy (i.e., factories dumping toxic chemicals into rivers that gets into irrigation systems). This issue, however, seems to be a common problem among most developing countries. Even during the U.S. industrial revolution where the food was barely regulated, many European countries banned our meat exports because it was tainted with toxic chemicals or parasites. Does Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” come to mind?

When I first arrived to China, I heard about some food safety concerns. This made me curious and began researching the food quality in China. The more I researched, the more I regretted learning what how food was processed and what toxic chemicals (or harmful life) lie within. Here are my scary findings:

The Source of Life: Water (and liquids)
Many rivers in China are tainted with toxic chemicals and sewage. That means that most anything (if not everything) polluted water touches is also tainted. When I first moved to China, I learned not to eat the seafood. Much of Chinese seafood is farmed seafood, where water shortages and water supplies are contaminated by sewage and industrial/agricultural waste. That can be super-difficult when having the craving for sushi, sweet and sour fish, or Har Gau dumplings during dim sum brunch.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/world/asia/15fish.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

Furthermore, water from the faucet is not safe to drink. Many apartments come supplied with drinking water dispensers. We’re fortunate that the Embassy provides us with bottled water and a water dispenser. Yet, a recent study showed 31 water bottle brands exceeded the allowable bacteria limit.  We also have to be cautious of what brands of water bottle we purchase when we go out. Since moving to Beijing, I’ve never had so many stomach problems than before. I’m not sure if it’s the water, the food or catching bad stomach bugs from others.

Li River, Yangshuo: Beautiful carssed mountains. Not sure if I'd want to drink water from here, though.

As I’m sure you heard, there have some milk scares in China. In 2008, a China milk manufacturer produced “milk” containing melamime, sickening more than 300,000 infants and killing 6 in China and more worldwide. Melamime is sometimes illegally added to food products to increase its protein value.  Melamime a type of plastic known for flame retardant properties and on dry erase boards. It is known to cause renal and urinary problems in humans and animals. It registers as protein, but actually has little or no nutrition value.  Despite the efforts to ban this, melamime is found in other products (i.e. ice cream). Ever since this milk scare, Chinese do not trust domestically produced milk. Instead, many purchase imported milk. Some even go to Hong Kong to purchase dried milk to bring back to China. This caused milk shortages in Hong Kong. Now, Chinese people have a limit on the amount of milk they can purchase in Hong and amount they can bring back to China.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Chinese_milk_scandal
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/27/china.tainted.milk/index.html

A couple things I miss about America: donuts and ice cream. Don't eat street ice cream in China!

Staple Food: Rice
Rice is a staple food in China, particularly in Southern China. However, cadmium, a toxic heavy metal affecting kidneys and the skeleton is found in Chinese-produced rice. Cadmium is one of several poisonous, heavy metals that officials say have over the years leached from mines and chemical factories. Once Cadmium reaches rivers, lakes and streams, it contaminates the region’s rice paddies.
Sources: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57579062/imported-rice-may-contain-dangerously-high-lead-levels/
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/confronting-chinas-cadmium-laced-rice-crisis-2013-06-06

Meat
Rat Meat Disguised as Lamb
I used to wonder why Chinese restaurants often served the heads of animals with your dish. After living in China, I now know why. In addition to the head having medicinal value, it gives the consumer the confidence that the meat they are eating is authentic. Apparently, fake meat runs pretty rampant in China. Earlier this year, about 900 people were arrested for passing off fox, mink and rat meat as mutton. Counterfeiters treated meat with chemicals and dyes and sold it at as mutton at farmers markets. Much of what they sold was also disease-laden meat (i.e. Ecoli). This meat has put people into hospitals and some resulting in death. Clearly, none of this fake meat was sold with the head.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/03/china-arrests-fake-meat-scandal

The head indicates it's what you're really eating: Pigeon.

Thousands of Dead Animals Floating in Rivers
In March of 2013, tens of thousands of dead pigs were found floating in a Chinese river nearby Shanghai.  It was quite the post-Apocalyptic sight. Apparently, farmers are required by law to send diseased or dying animals to processing pits. However, black market dealers have illegally intercepted these pigs and butchered and sold them to unsuspecting consumers. Eww. Because of the recent crackdowns, these black market traders have stopped buying the dead pigs and instead have been dumping them into rivers.  Additionally, not too soon after that, there were also thousands of dead ducks and swans found in bags in nearby rivers.
Sources: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/29/dead-pigs-china-water-supply
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2303514/Bird-Flu-China-Dead-pigs-swans-ducks-linked-new-fatalities.html

Could there be dead, diseased pig or duck in this? Will never know...

Fake Eggs
To make a quick buck, some folks make fake eggs and sell them on the streets. These eggs are made up of toxic chemicals. Recipes for fake eggs for vendors are available online.
Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/world/asia/08food.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.chengduliving.com/fake-eggs-are-no-joke/

Tea
I’m a huge tea fan and was disappointed to find out that much of the tea produced in China contains lead. However, according to research, as long as one does not eat tea leaves, they will only consume very small traces, if any, lead. During tea brewing, lead does not fall off the tea leaves. Apparently, Bigelow and Lipton tea brands have 1.25 to 2.50 micograms of lead per serving; whereas, Teavanna (Japanese tea leaves) has no traces.  A WHO paper states 23 micrograms per day is an acceptable amount of consumption. Regardless of what this paper says, I’m still goint to be very cautious of any heavy metal consumption, considering I’m constantly exposed to other toxins in China (e.g. pollution, food, water).
Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/whats-in-your-green-tea/

Cooking Additives 
Gutter oil
One of the main reasons why I am not tempted to purchase any food off the streets is because street vendors are known to use gutter oil to cook food in. Gutter oil refers to recycled oil made from kitchen waste taken from gutters behind restaurants as well as inedible animal oil. The oil is dangerous if consumed, as it contains carcinogenic substances and bacteria. Here’s a video of how gutter oil is made
Source
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/food/2013-04/12/content_16396041.htm

Soy Sauce
Some soy sauces has found traces of arsenic

Taking chances and eating locally. Do they use gutter oil?

Produce
Exploding Watermelons
Some farmers “mistakenly” oversprayed their crops with a growth accelerator, hoping they could get their fruit to the market ahead of peak season. This resulted in entire fields of watermelons. The remnants were then fed to fish and pigs.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13421374

Others
Pet Treats
Since 2007, hundreds of pets in the U.S. died after eating pet snacks made in China, much from kidney failure and gastrointestinal bleeding. To this day, the FDA is still unclear what was in those treats.
Sources: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19426023.600
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-24/china-killed-your-dog-are-you-next-.html

Don't poison poor Snowy! Fortunately, he wasn't.

Toys
2007 saw many toy recalls, most coming from China. Mattel recalled 7 million toys, because much of it contained high amounts of lead. Additionally, researchers from Greenpeace and IPEN tested Chinese toys and found traces or large amounts of heavy metals, including lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury, antimony or chromium. These six heavy metals can cause permanent damage to a child’s nervous and immune systems.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8944028/One-third-of-Chinese-toys-contain-heavy-metals.html

Toothpaste
In 2007, Spain discovered that imported Chinese toothpast contained traces of substances that were used in antifreeze and solvents.
Source: http://www.cosmeticsdesign.com/Formulation-Science/Spain-withdraws-Chinese-toothpaste-from-the-oral-care-market

Counterfeit Drugs
China is the world’s largest producer of counterfeit drugs, creating problems domestically and internationally. In the past decade, African countries including Nigeria and Angola seized large sums of counterfeit medicine (i.e. HIV/AIDS, anti-malarial, emergency contraception) from China. Some had the label “Made in India” but had actually originated from China.
Sources: http://allafrica.com/stories/201311041250.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/23/africa-counterfeit-medicines-trade

Chinese Medicine: For indigestion, you get little tubes of liquids. I got better. Was definitely real!

So how do you eat in China?
1. Purchase meat/produce and imported products from Western markets
2. Eat at local restaurants the locals recommend; if you're on your own, halal restaurants are a safe bet
3. Mail things in from Amazon.com from America or have visitors deliver them to you
4. Check local listings and reviews (i.e. tripadvisor, beijinger, cityweekend)
5. Use your intuition to guide you in making decisions to eat

Funny Translations While Dining Out

All photos were taken from my iPhone.