So Opinionated: Chinese Pork Tainted with Banned Chemicals!

Why am I not surprised.

Are the Chinese able to do anything right with their exports these days? It seems that they're always in the news, often for dangerous reasons. Today's news is not any different.

GUANGZHOU, China—Police have arrested nine people and revoked the license of a livestock market owner in a case involving pork tainted with a chemical that made 70 people sick in southern China's biggest city, an official said Tuesday.
The incident in Guangzhou has raised new fears about the safety of China's food industry, which in the past year has been rocked by scandals involving milk powder and other items laced with harmful additives.

Let's not forget the toy scandal last year either. There were 550,000 Chinese toys recalled for hazardous levels of lead in them, including baby bibs.

That was a frightening number of toys, most of which were exported to the U.S.

(In 2007) China exported around US$4.9 billion agricultural products to the U.S. Including fish, vegetables and various processed foods. That was when the first food safety issues came to light and we increased our food inspection from China.

To the credit (maybe) of the Chinese, The Food Safety Law was brought in that same year.

'Somehow' though the baby formula tainted with melamine issue just a short while ago, slipped under the radar. A law is no good unless it's enforced.

The incident in Guangzhou has raised new fears about the safety of China's food industry, which in the past year has been rocked by scandals involving milk powder and other items laced with harmful additives.

I don't understand why this poisoned pork news is only coming to light now, when investigators actually found the cause of the currently tainted pork 2 months ago!

All 70 people were found to have eaten pig organs in Guangzhou. The people found to have been poisoned were sent to hospital with symptoms of headaches, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach aches.

GUANGZHOU: Guangzhou Tianhe Livestock Market stopped farmers from bringing in 151 pigs suspected to have been fed clenobuterol hydrochloride early Tuesday morning.
"Urine samples of the animals, transported all the way from Mengjin county in Central China's Henan province, was soon sent for testing," a manager with the market, who wanted to be known as "He", told China Daily Tuesday.

"The pigs are under observation and those that are found with clenobuterol hydrochloride traces will be culled," the manager said. "And we will ban all farmers from Henan province from entering our market with live pigs from tomorrow on."

So what actually is clenobuteral hydrocholride?

Interestingly, I found the Meso Rx website where I found that the public brand name for this chemical is Spriropent. The article advises that the drug stays in your system for days. Not only that, it accelerates your heart rate.

It's used in some Chinese pig farms to fatten the animals for sale, which translates into higher profits, since each pig gains 1 kilogram of weight per day. The higher profits come to around 275% !

Authorities also revoked the business licence of Quanfa Food Co, Ltd, which owned the livestock market that sold the pork, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

The company failed to properly inspect the meat and its response was too slow when the food poisoning cases began to be reported, the local Nanfang Daily newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The suspects could be sentenced to up to five years in prison if found guilty of dealing in tainted food, Xinhua said.

As anyone knows that has read any of my articles on China, I have boycotted the country since before the Olympic Games, when their lack of human rights came to light.

Poisonous toys and foods are just another reason for me to add to the pile.

Sources

China Daily
Market Rejects 'Tainted' Livestock

New York Times
550,000 More Chinese Toys Recalled for Lead
by Jad Mouawad

Meso Rx
Clenbuterol Hydrochloride (Spiropent)
by Bill Roberts

Industry Issues
Agriculture and Food

Denver Post
Police Arrest 9 in Tainted Chinese Pork Scandal
- AP