Slimy snails
Between June and August, 87 people fell ill after eating half-cooked snails
in a Beijing restaurant. Tests carried out showed they had a type of
angiostrongyliasis infection, in which parasites that attack the brain and the
spinal cord that can lead to meningitis. On August 8, the authorities ordered
the restaurant to stop selling the dish.
Meat menace
In mid-September, meat in some Shanghai markets was found to contain
clenobuterol hydrochloride, a chemical added to pigs' fodder to get "leaner
quality meat". In humans, the additive can cause vertigo and nausea, and a
patient could slip into a coma and even die. Hence, it's strictly banned from
being used in food products.
More than 300 people suffered clenobuterol hydrochloride poisoning. The
Ministry of Agriculture swung into action and conducted thorough checks the
markets and banned the sale of contaminated pork.
Edgy eggs
Mid-November: farmers and poultry owners in some parts of Hebei Province fed
red sudan dye to their ducks to make them lay eggs with red yolks. The reason:
eggs with red yolks fetch a higher price than those with regular yellow yolks.
But red sudan dye is carcinogenic. Major cities soon banned the sale of such
eggs. On November 27, the Ministry of Agriculture declared that all the red-yolk
eggs and the ducks that had been fed with the cancer-causing dye had been
destroyed.
Fish fear
At the end of November, Shanghai authorities found excessive cancer-causing
chemical residues (nitrofuran and chloromycetin) in 30 samples of turbot, a flat
fish served at banquets and upscale restaurants. The sale of the fish was banned
later. Some farmers reportedly fed the fish large quantities of medicinal
supplements, which had left harmful, cancer-causing residues, to raise their
immunity to disease.
(China Daily 03/15/2007 page8)
