A man living in Tongzhou District in Beijing this week reports a story very similar to that of a Pudong woman in April: after purchasing a chunk of meat from a local vegetable market, he later discovered that it was glowing blue in the dark! more ›

The world's number one retail outlet Walmart announced on Tuesday that it has reopened its stores in Chongqing, effectively ending the 15-day forced closure after charges surfaced that they've been selling ordinary pork under the more expensive "organic" label. more ›

In an effort to combat soaring domestic pork prices fomented by a dire pork shortage, China has opted to import the precious staple in bulk from the U.S. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in just the first seven months of this year, China imported 200 million pounds of pork from the U.S., a 500% increase from the same period last year! This action could possibly mark the start of a future in which more and more foreign pork is brought into China, whose domestic supply has taken a severe hit over the years. The country's substantial population, farmers' reluctance to raise pigs due to dirty working conditions, and rampant hog epidemics have all taken their toll on the pig population, causing pork prices to rise by over 60% this year. When you factor in a populace that essentially runs on pork with a consumption rate of 100,000 tons(!!) of pork per day, China's need to "bring home the bacon" becomes alarmingly apparent. more ›

Well, it looks like messing with certain food staples just goes beyond the pale. 989 members of a pork-polluting criminal ring involved in the manufacture and selling of clenbuterol have been arrested, according to an official with the Ministry of Public Security. 2000 police officers were dispatched to bring down a nationwide ring operating throughout 63 Chinese cities, and for all intents and purposes, it looks as if the authorities are currently waging a War on Tainted Pork. In the latest crackdown, 2.75 tons of clenbuterol were seized, and six illegal laboratories, 12 production lines, 19 processing and storage sites and 32 underground factories were all shuttered. more ›

The municipal leaders in the Fujian city of Xiamen have begun releasing some of their frozen pork reserves (yes, you heard that right) for general sale on August 15th to combat the huge rise in pork prices across China this year, which have averaged over 35 percent. Though the new (and quite literal) stimulus of government pork is being sold at 15 percent below market value, there's a catch: only 5 retailers in Xiamen will be licensed to sell the pork, and each buyer will only be allowed to buy 5kg worth of pork each purchase. Oh, and if you're buying more than 2kg at a time, then you'll need to show some ID. That move to start importing more pork into China can't come fast enough. more ›

Melissa Chan of Al Jazeera demonstrates the process whereby pork is made to taste like beef. Gross? Yes. Unhealthy? Maybe. Illegal? Not in China. And to make matters worse, today we found out that 60% of China's 2,200 food additives can't even be tested for due to technical limitations!! more ›

"LOCAL food safety watchdog said it saw a drop in the amount of pork contaminated by clenobuteral hydrochloride, a widely-used pig slimming drug, in recent checks but an increase in the use of two other slimming drugs. While clenobuteral hydrochloride is found in 1 percent of checked pigs or pork products, salbutamol and ractopamine are found in 5 percent of the samples, officials from the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration said today. The city government has intensified checks on these chemicals in butcheries and wholesale markets. Pig farms that are found feeding pigs with banned drugs will be put on a blacklist and banned from the Shanghai market, officials warned." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

Is there no end to the food safety issues we have to deal with here? Luckily, this new scare doesn't seem to actually be harmful. Unluckily, this means that officials are "passing the buck" when it comes to actually dealing with it. more ›

Yuck. Looks like the company behind the clenbuterol contamination in China's pork last month has decided on the grossest way possible to dispose of the meat, namely, piling it wholesale into a big pit and covering it up. Chinese comments on the photos are amusing, though, as many are speculating as to what archaeologists will think when they dig them up in 10,000 years... more ›

Thought that story of the human milk-producing cows was creepy? Now wait till you hear this one! more ›

That's right. According to our market intelligence from the all-authoritative China Daily and People's Daily, the prices of non-ferrous metals such as nickel, zinc, aluminum, and copper have plunged quite a fair bit lately while the price of garlic has shot up a hundredfold over the last two years. Apparently, the market rate for one kilo of garlic is now a whopping ¥19, more than the price of pork (¥13.96/kg) and eggs (¥6.80/kg)! [Can anyone verify this? We haven't been doing much groceries lately!] more ›

• Swine-Flu Warning Raised as Virus Crosses Continents [Bloomberg] "The World Health Organization, acknowledging the growing threat of swine flu, raised its global pandemic alert, saying the disease is no longer containable.The alarm level, raised to 4 from 3, is at its highest since the warning system was adopted in 2005, and the virus has been confirmed in the U.K., Mexico, the U.S., Canada and Spain."
• U.S. Warns China, Other Countries Not to Ban Pork [Fox News] "China and a string of other countries have moved to ban pork and other meat products from some U.S. states over the past week. The trend on Tuesday drew a rebuke from U.S. officials, who are warning trading partners that such embargoes could trigger "serious trading disruptions." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health organizations insist that the strain cannot be spread by food and that properly cooked pork is safe."
• Anise star spice amid flu scare, China minister says [Reuters] " Scared your favorite pork dish may harbor swine flu? China's Health Minister advises adding some star anise. The numbing spice is a key raw ingredient for Tamiflu, one of the main anti-virals used to treat swine flu, and is also a popular flavoring in Chinese cuisine."

Finally some good news that will make anyone in China rest assured that the food on our table is safe. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) continues to be busy at work ensuring food safety for us all. After banning soy sauce and wasabi imported from three Japanese producers found to be tainted with toluene and ethyl acetate last month, AQSIQ has now withheld about 312 tonnes of Irish pork across the country, on global concerns that pork from Ireland contain potentially harmful levels of the cancer-causing agent dioxin. Even as many other countries are starting to ban Irish pork, this latest move by AQSIQ will hurt the Irish pork industry big time as China is a HUGE pork-consuming nation. Between September and now, China imported 2,047 tonnes of pork from Ireland. more ›