Made in China...no thanks?

Wandering around Ranch 99 or 99 Cent Stores as I do occasionally, who can't help wonder what's safe to eat as nearly 13,000 children in China have been poisoned by tainted milk powder! This tragic story of greed and poor production oversight has cost four babies' lives so far!

There have been very few cases of illness outside of China. That the Chinese companies would do this to its own people is horrific. As expected, many countries have banned Chinese dairy imports following the scandal. Thankfully, Chinese police have arrested 18 people in connection with the scandal and customers are able to return the possibly tainted milk powder brands purchased at a supermarket in Hefei, Anhui province in September.



Incredible It's reported that the tainted milk contained melamine, a banned chemical normally used in plastics. When added to milk powder it appears to have higher protein and was used in products made by 22 companies!?

Made in China No longer simply a guarantee of low-price, "Made in China" is now feared. With the recent toy and food scares we've witnessed, the world has to be selective about what it buys. The old addage "quality, not quantity" is so apt in today's society of consumerism. May be that conscientiousness will trickle into other world issues like pollution and ecological matters too. That's the only way up.

Bowl of cardboard dumplings please...NOT

China has fake news stories too ;-)

Oh man, as if China didn't have enough world attention on its quality control! Zi Beijia, an aspiring investigative journalist for Beijing Television faked a story that shocked viewers of his report, but also landed him in jail!

Reuters reports that Zi had been arrested after it emerged that he had fabricated a report that local dumplings hawkers were adding softened, pork-flavoured cardboard to their food. On Sunday, a Chinese court sentenced the TV reporter to one year in jail for faking the report that was picked up across the world.

The Chinese official Xinhua news agency reported: "the journalist, Zi Beijia, was convicted after an open court hearing of "infringing the reputation of commodities". He was also fined 1,000 yuan ($132)."

Damage unlimited

But the damage has been done. No one hears that the story is fake, just that there was such a story. The public will remember that China has such practices and might, at best, remember that China fakes news reports.

In this new emerging market economy, trust between China and other countries needs to be earnt. Individuals are busy scrambling to grab a piece of the cake at any cost, but all the outside world sees is China Inc. suffering huge growing pains.