Toxic Chinese imports

[GeneChing]

I thought we already had a thread going that was related to this (other than the toxic med one). If I find it, I'll merge.

Lead found in Asian candies
Stephanie M. Lee
Updated 10:42 p.m., Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Children may want to think twice about snacking on popular plum and ginger candies exported from Asia and sold in the Bay Area. A new study found they could contain dangerously high amounts of toxic chemicals.

Lead exceeding amounts permitted by California law was found in 14 plum and ginger candies on the shelves of a selected number of East Bay retailers, the Center for Environmental Health, an Oakland watchdog group, said Tuesday.

All 19 sweets tested by the center were made in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan and distributed by Asian or U.S. suppliers for sale at Lucky, 99 Ranch Market, Lion Supermarket, Marina Foods and San Pablo Supermarket. The group selected stores in the East Bay for its study, but the candies, most of which appear under brand names written in Chinese characters, are also sold elsewhere.

Under the consumer law Proposition 65, which voters passed in 1986, California limits the amount of lead in candy to one-tenth parts per million. But the treats contained anywhere from four to 39 times that amount. One package of plum candy from 99 Ranch Market had 96 times the amount of lead allowed by law, the group said.

The study's scope was small, but the high concentrations of the chemical indicate a widespread problem, said Christine Cordero, program director for the Center for Environmental Health. She recommended that parents have their children tested for lead in their blood, and avoid buying the sweets.

"There is no sure way for consumers to know if these products are lead-tainted," she said.

U.S. distributors for 99 Ranch would not comment Tuesday. The center has told the five stores and three U.S. distributors it intends to sue.

Lead poisoning in adults is associated with infertility, mood disorders, memory loss and high blood pressure. In children, lead exposure can cause learning difficulties, behavioral problems, seizures, coma and even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While lead's effects are well-known, environmental health advocates say they are not sure how the chemical finds its way into the candy.

One theory involves cars fueled by leaded gasoline. When they travel roads next to fields that grow plums and ginger, lead from their exhaust pipes could end up in the air and dust that touches the crops, said Caroline Cox, research director for the Center for Environmental Health.

"Lead doesn't ever really go away," she said. "It doesn't break down."

The center tested candies purchased in February and June, after the state Department of Public Health had been unearthing lead in this type of candy for years. In July, the agency warned people not to eat a certain kind of plum candy from Taiwan after it was found to have toxic levels of lead.

In 2006, the Center for Environmental Health reached legal settlements with more than 30 candy makers, including leading sellers of spicy candies from Mexico, after discovering high amounts of lead in their products. Most recently, the organization announced finding the chemical in designer purses and jewelry sold in California.
Toxic candy

The Center for Environmental Health said plum and ginger candy with dangerous levels of lead were found in these stores:

-- Lucky (El Cerrito)

-- 99 Ranch Market (Richmond)

-- Lion Supermarket (Milpitas)

-- Marina Foods (Fremont)

-- San Pablo Supermarket (San Pablo)

These suppliers distributed candy with lead problems:

-- JFC International Inc.

-- Kam Lee Yuen Trading Co. Inc.

-- Queensway Foods Co. Inc.

-- Continental Trading Co. (Hong Kong)

-- Dayou Trading Co. (Taiwan)

-- Sanh Yuan Enterprise Co. Ltd. (Taiwan)

Stephanie M. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: slee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @stephaniemlee

Unfortunately this article doesn't specify which brands are toxic, just where to get them.

[ShaolinDan]

Under the consumer law Proposition 65, which voters passed in 1986, California limits the amount of lead in candy to one-tenth parts per million. But the treats contained anywhere from four to 39 times that amount. One package of plum candy from 99 Ranch Market had 96 times the amount of lead allowed by law, the group said.

I read things like this and start to get nervous about living in China. ... Then I do the math. OMG 9.6 parts per million of lead! Instant death!

[bawang]

the important thing is not the taint in the food, its the taint in the mind.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Originally Posted by bawang

the important thing is not the taint in the food, its the taint in the mind.

Practicing some self actualization Bawang? O master of taint.

[Lee Chiang Po]

Taint. It is that spot located between the scrotum and the A--hole. Taint one, taint the other.

Anything from China that you would put into your mouth should be examined first. Simple green mouthwash that is bottled and labeled to resemble a popular brand, not a counterfeit, but a suggestion that it is. The stuff is made from green alchohol, which is ethanol laced with Methanol. The US government requires manufacturers to poison it so it can not be drank, and so it costs less. They sell it to China, who then flavors it and sells it back. Here is the kicker. They don't usually know it is poison, so use it in things like mouthwash. And even if they did know, people usually don't swallow the crap in large enough quantity to cause a problem. When it comes back here, we have people that will buy mouthwash off the shelf because it is cheaper than booze. They end up dying from it.

[GeneChing]

I suspect there will be a fair amount of news reports to add to this thread over time.

11 hours ago
China stiff-arms FDA on jerky pet treat testing, reports show
By JoNel Aleccia, NBC News

Chinese government officials overseeing plants that make chicken jerky pet treats blamed for thousands of illnesses and deaths among American dogs have refused to allow U.S. inspectors to collect samples for independent analysis, newly released records show.

Investigators with the federal Food and Drug Administration came away empty-handed after conducting April inspections at four jerky treat manufacturing sites in Liaocheng and Jinan, China, according to the records.

The plants make pet treats sold by the St. Louis-based Nestle Purina PetCare Co., including the popular Waggin’ Train jerky brands.

Chinese officials stipulated that FDA officials could collect samples only if they agreed to specific conditions, including a requirement that the samples be tested in Chinese-run laboratories.

As a result, “no samples were collected during this inspection,” wrote Dennis L. Doupnik, an FDA investigator who visited the sites.

In addition, the reports showed that the Chinese plants conducted either no laboratory tests or only sporadic tests of the raw materials, including meat used in treats fed to many of the 78.2 million pet dogs in the U.S.

The FDA found no significant violations and issued no citations, but warned plant owners about problems that included broken supports on metal screens, a torn gasket door on a mixer and failure to file proper paperwork to list actual treat manufacturers instead of shippers or brokers in FDA records.

That means the agency appears to be no closer to solving the mystery of about 2,000 reports of illnesses or deaths in U.S. dogs that ate jerky treats made in China, lawmakers and pet owners said on Tuesday. Despite tests of hundreds of treats in the U.S. over five years, the FDA has found no significant levels of contaminants in the products.

“It’s hard to believe the FDA would send a team of inspectors over to China without first getting a guarantee that they could bring samples back,” said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, who has been tracking the jerky problem. “They’re doing nothing of consequence. The FDA’s tone-deaf on this one.”

Elizabeth Mawaka, 57, a Hartford, Conn., woman who says her two Boston terriers, Max and Toby, died after eating tainted treats, called on Nestle Purina to demand that samples be released to the FDA.

“It really comes down to the company,” said Mawaka, who is suing jerky treat makers and retailers. “We can talk all we want about China, but it’s really the company.”

However, a Nestle Purina spokesman said the inspections demonstrated no problems with the firm's products and no evidence that they’ve led to illnesses in animals in the U.S.

Keith Schopp, the firm’s vice president of public relations, said that it’s common for countries to refuse to have samples tested outside of the country of origin and that the terms of the inspection were set by the U.S. and Chinese governments, not by Nestle Purina or the manufacturing site officials.

“There was no attempt by Nestle Purina or the Chinese facilities to restrict sample collection,” said Schopp said in an email to NBCNews.com.

"Nestle Purina will continue to cooperate fully with FDA to assist its investigation," added Schopp, who has consistently said the treats are safe to feed as directed.

Tamara N. Ward, an FDA spokeswoman, said in an email that the inspections helped to identify additional areas that the agency may investigate, but there is "no evidence indicating that these firms' jerky pet treats are the cause of pet illnesses in the United States."

Ward did not respond to NBC News questions about the impact of the Chinese officials' refusal to allow FDA to collect samples.

Last November, the FDA issued its third warning since 2007 about potentially dangerous chicken jerky treats after new reports of health problems in dogs surfaced, ranging from diarrhea and vomiting to kidney failure and death. In the months since then, the agency has been swamped with reports of animal illness. Last month, it expanded the caution to include duck and sweet potato jerky treats.

The FDA sent a letter to Chinese officials in March identifying five Chinese firms for inspection. Investigators were sent for several days to each of four plants: Gambol Pet Products Co. Ltd.; Shandong Honva Food Co. Ltd.; and Shandong Petswell Food Co. Ltd., all in Liaocheng, China, and Jinan Uniwell Pet Food Co. Ltd. in Jinan, China, according to reports posted this week on the agency’s animal and veterinary website. The fifth report is pending because of the need for additional information and will be posted later, said Ward, the FDA spokeswoman.

The inspections were pre-arranged and supervised by officials with China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, known as AQSIQ.

AQSIQ officials refused to allow FDA inspectors to collect samples unless they agreed to “certain sampling conditions,” including having the jerky analyzed only in a Chinese government-run laboratory, or a third-party lab in China, wrote FDA investigator Doupnik. FDA investigators would have been allowed to witness the analysis, but not to remove samples.

“I was informed that FDA would not be allowed to ship any samples outside of China for testing in an FDA laboratory due to the issue of national sovereignty among other reasons,” Doupnik added.

Before each inspection, the reports indicated that Doupnik asked AQSIQ officials if their position on the sampling had changed. When he was informed it had not, Doupnik wrote that he did not ask to collect samples during the inspections.

The heavily redacted documents, known as Establishment Inspection Reports, traced the production of jerky treats from raw meat through final packaging. In each case, plant officials said they were aware of few complaints of any kind and none about the treats causing death or illness in dogs. That's despite documented FDA reports of complaints related to each site, Doupnik noted.

At the Shandong Petswell plant, an unidentified plant representative told inspectors that “it is her perception that the firm is making a good product.”

No FDA import alerts or import refusals have been issued for the firms, Ward said. However, she added that the FDA is conducting increased surveillance of shipments of jerky treats from China to provide guidance on possible products to target for sampling and analysis.

But Kucinich said that Chinese officials' refusal to release samples to U.S. inspectors should be grounds for banning the products from import -- or for a mandatory recall.

“That would do it for that product. I would pull them all off the market,” said Kucinich. “Fine. You’re done.”

Consumers have petitioned the FDA to urge Nestle Purina and other jerky treat manufacturers to recall the products. However, FDA officials have said they can’t force a recall based solely on customer complaints.

[GeneChing]

Tapioca pearls in bubble tea contain carcinogens: study
Thursday, August 30, 2012

German health authorities and researchers have come out swinging recently against the Taiwanese drink bubble tea, warning that the popular dessert beverage presents a choking hazard to children and may contain cancer-causing chemicals.

The warnings, released separately, come as Europe, and Germany in particular, begin to catch on to the bubble tea trend which has already swept major urban centers in North America to become a popular dessert beverage.

After analyzing the tapioca balls which make up the ‘bubbles' in the drink, researchers from the University Hospital Aachen, for instance, found that the pearls contained polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs such as styrene, acetophenone, and brominated substances, chemicals that shouldn't be in food at all, researchers told German paper The Local.

Samples were taken from an unnamed chain in Mönchengladbach, in northwest Germany and the tapioca balls were made in Taiwan.

The study comes on the heels of a public health warning from the country's German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment earlier this month, which warned that the tapioca balls also present a choking risk to children.

"Especially with children aged up to four years, there is a risk of foreign objects accidentally entering the lungs," said Dr. Andreas Hensel in a statement. "And that is precisely what can happen when the bubbles are sucked up through a straw."

Meanwhile, the institute says no bubble tea-related accidents have yet been reported.

Something about that last line amuses me. Taken out of context, I'm trying to imagine a bubble tea-related accident.

[David Jamieson]

It begs the question: "China! What's up with all the lead in stuff?"....

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by David Jamieson

It begs the question: "China! What's up with all the lead in stuff?"....

its hard to poison our water supply so they go for the candy and toys! its pretty ingenious actually

[Jimbo]

I've wondered about that. Especially all the lead/cadmium in those cheap children's toys/jewelry from China. Is it some passive-aggressive type of warfare, or is it simple greed, laziness, and/or incompetence on the part of these companies?

It may be more the latter. I've seen a number of photos of people, mostly elderly people, in China with the most bizarre tumors. They certainly seem to be taking the brunt of the industrial toxicity.

[David Jamieson]

Call me a worrywart but I won't eat any foods imported from china at all.
they need to install and implement a food inspection quality system in China.

China could probably do some good by having system checks as well around exported goods and a standards council and so on to ensure that these things are being done. As for the corruption, just keep arresting the corrupted ones I suppose.

Companies here are fined millions when they mess up, make the same true in China and it will even out.

[poshmissy]

That's sad to hear. Just a warning to everyone, we need to make sure that whatever edibles we will eat make sure that we read labels and that there's a corresponding english translation on the package just to be safe about the contents of the food we will eat.

[Syn7]

I only eat whole foods. For the most part local. I cook all my meals from scratch. Literally. Sometimes I buy bread. The sesame Kaisers at the store by my house are pretty good. Baked in store.

I try not to buy ANYTHING from China. It can be unavoidable in some cases.

I also strictly oppose the Nexen takeover and any other deal like that to Sinopec or any other state owned and/or operated company. If this goes through I'm gonna be so disappointed. Selling our oil to another nation is one thing, selling the rights to our natural resources to any foreign nation is unacceptable, period. It just makes it even worse that it's China.

[Syn7]

Originally Posted by GeneChing

Something about that last line amuses me. Taken out of context, I'm trying to imagine a bubble tea-related accident.

I look at bubble tea as a tragic accident. I tried it once, never again. I can get into the flavors, but never the textures. But then I don't really drink anything but water and fruit drinks. Juice, smoothies, that kinda sh1t.