China's Top 9 Fake Foods
China seems not only to make everything, it fakes just about everything as well.
CARDBOARD STEAMED BUNS SCANDAL
Chinese street vendors soak cardboard in industrial chemicals to soften it. Then it is chopped and mixed with pork fat and flavored powder.
The mixture is stuffed in dough and steamed.
In 2007, according to China Daily (A STATE-OWNED MEDIA), Beijing police have detained a television reporter for fabricating an investigative story about steamed buns stuffed with cardboard at a time when China's food safety is under intense international scrutiny.
A report directed by Beijing TV and played on state-run national broadcaster China Central Television that time said an unlicensed snack vend or in eastern Beijing was selling steamed dumplings stuffed with cardboard soaked in caustic soda and seasoned with pork flavouring.
MELAMINE MILK SCANDAL
In 2009. There was also a Melamine Milk Scandal in China. Around 53,000 Chinese children and infants have sickened by Melamine-tainted dairy products. 40,000 were treated as out-patients, 14,000 were Treated in various hospitals in China. And 4 infants have died because of this. Infusing the watered down milk with Melamine falsely increases the “protein” content of Milk, thereby fooling the Milk manufacturers.
FAKE CHICKEN EGGS SCANDAL
China is also famous in Fake Chicken eggs scandal. People discovered fake chicken eggs being produced and sold in China.
Fake egg’s shell is made of calcium carbonate. Egg yolk and egg white are made of sodium alginate, alum, gelatin, eatable calcium chloride and then add water and food coloring. First pour a set amount of sodium alginate into warm water and mix it into egg white like shape, then mix it with gelatin together with benzoic acid, alum and other chemicals to make the egg white. Egg yolk is just adding lemon yellow food coloring. Together with calcium chloride to form egg mixture into the mold to produce the egg membrane. Egg shell is made of paraffin wax, gypsum powder, calcium carbonate and other materials.
Source: http://www.chinahush.com/2009/04/24/how-to-identify-fake-chicken-eggs/
FAKE RICE NOODLES SCANDAL
In 2010, Large amounts of rice noodles made with rotten grain and potentially carcinogenic additives are being sold in south China, state press said.
Up to 50 factories in south China's Dongguan city near Hong Kong are producing about 500,000 kilogrammes (1.1 million pounds) of tainted rice noodles a day using stale and mouldy grain, the Beijing Youth Daily said that time.
FAKE RICE SCANDAL
In 2011, according to the Korean-language “Weekly Hong Kong” (which many Vietnam websites are referencing as well), Singapore media claim that fake rice is being distributed in the Chinese town of Taiyuan, in Shaanxi province. This “rice” is a mix of potatoes, sweet potatoes, and plastic. It is formed by mixing the potatoes and sweet potatoes into the shape of rice grains, then adding industrial synthetic resins. Since the rice does not behave like normal rice, it stays hard even after it has been cooked. Such synthetic resins can also be very harmful if consumed.
A Chinese Restaurant Association official said that eating three bowls of this fake rice would be like eating one plastic bag. Due to the seriousness of the matter, he added that there they conducted an investigation of factories alleged to be producing the rice.
Source: http://www.weeklyhk.com/news.php?code&mode=view&num=10793
BLUE GLOWING PORK SCANDAL
In the same year (2011), A woman who purchased a kilogram of pork from a wet market on Yang Gao North Road.
Afterward, she placed the leftover pork on a small table in the kitchen. At 11pm, Miss Chen got out of bed to use the toilet, and suddenly noticed a faint blue glow coming from the kitchen, and that the bright blue glow was coming from the pork itself.
Another resident from Changsha city one after another discovered that the pork they had purchased from supermarkets emitted a blue glow at night. After this phenomenon was reported by the media, the Changsha Food Safety Commission mobilized the efforts of the business, livestock, industry and commerce, health, and other departments and at the same time invited experts and professors to participate in the investigation.
Through scientific bacteria cultivation separation, experts discovered “blue glow pork” was caused by secondary bacterial contamination. Shanghai Health Supervision Department food experts say the pork that has been contaminated by phosphorescent bacteria.
Source: http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/pictures/blue-glowing-pork-meat-found-in-shanghai.html
FAKE WINE SCANDAL
In March 2012 according to REUTERS report, Master of Wine Jeannie Cho Lee tasted fake wine at a Hong Kong dinner party.
"What we're seeing across the country is a proliferation of knock-offs and copycats and outright counterfeit as the imported wine industry really explodes in this market," said Ian Ford of Summergate Fine Wines in Shanghai, adding that counterfeiters are taking advantage of inexperienced Chinese consumers.
FAKE MEAT MADE FROM RATS
More than 900 people have been arrested in China for involvement in meat-related crimes, including producing fake beef and mutton from animals such as rats, minks and foxes, authorities reported.
A total of 382 cases of alleged crimes in food industry were uncovered in a three-month campaign launched by China’s Ministry of Public Security on January 25, the ministry reported.
In addition to producing falsely-labeled meat, the crimes included using banned chemicals in processing of products, selling meat infected with various diseases and injecting water into meat to pad up its weight, according to Xinhua news agency.
Security officials seized more than 20,000 tons of illegal meat products during the crackdown.
The ministry said it will now focus on dairy products, continuing a larger campaign to combat crime and violations in food industry.
Crook producers faking meat to beef up the bottom line is hardly China’s exclusive problem. Europe recently had a major scandal over horsemeat laced with banned drug, which was sold as more expensive beef.
Source: http://rt.com/news/china-meat-crimes-crackdown-766/
CHINESE SELLING WALNUTS FILLED WITH CEMENT
The scam goes like this — the walnut husk had been emptied of its nutmeat, filled with concrete and paper and then glued shut again. For the fraudsters, they can almost double their profits with the trick, selling both the nutmeat and the fake nuts.
Such a trade makes sense in China, where walnuts have become ridiculously expensive over the last few years — from 350 yuan 10 years ago, to as much as 3,500 yuan, or 20,000 - 30,000 yuan (almost $5,000) last year.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-walnuts-filled-with-cement-2013-2
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