Are Chinese Export Products Unsafe?
The Chinese government executed a former director of its agency for food and drug safety this past week for taking money in exchange for approving fake medicines. The action marks Beijing’s strongest statement yet as the country struggles to contain an escalating crisis of confidence in the safety of food and other exports.
Last month the U.S. blocked shipments of farm raised catfish, shrimp and other seafood that had high levels of antibiotics and chemicals, adding to the list of recalled products that includes about 450,000 defective tires and 1.5 million toy-train parts with high lead content.
Why is China having these problems?
In a span of fifteen years, China has gone from a country that struggled to feed its population to a major food exporter. Domestic food-borne illnesses have plagued China for years, but the rest of the world has become aware of the problem only recently as China began exporting its products.
What threat do substandard products pose to U.S. consumers?
China has accounted for 60% of all consumer products recalls this year, including all 24 toy recalls in the U.S. Meanwhile seafood imports from China have grown from about $285 million in 1996 to 1.9 billion last year. While that accounts for 22% of all seafood imports, 39% of all seafood shipments that U.S. regulators turned away in April came from China.
How well does the U.S. screen imported goods?
As the number of imported food items has tripled in the last decade, the share of those imports subject to FDA inspections has decreased, to about 1% from 1.7%. The FDA is responsible for inspecting about 80% of the food supply, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture handles all meat and poultry inspections. While meat and poultry imports have nearly doubled in the past decade, the percentage of those food imports subject to USDA inspection has fallen about 10% of all imports, half the proportion inspected 10 years ago.
Beginning next year, all fresh meats, produce and peanuts will be required to have “country of origin” labels. Congress is considering legislation that would require those labels sooner, by September 30th.
What kind of damage could safety fears have on China’s brand?
At stake for China is $2.3 billion in U.S. agriculture imports, and the U.S. has become the third largest export market for Chinese seafood, after South Korea and Japan. Safety worries could also set back China’s push for the U.S. and the European Union to approve import of Chinese poultry, a move already opposed by trade associations in the U.S. and Europe.
China also risks losing tourism. The outbreak of the SARS virus in 2003 demonstrated the potential damage of a public health crisis, costing China about $16,8 billion in lost tourism revenues, according to the Asian Development Bank.
Food for Health International, a Utah-based company that makes nutritional supplements for people and pets, will begin labeling its products China-free to ally contamination concerns.
§ Twelve different U.S. federal agencies are responsible for implanting 35 primary food safety regulation laws.
§ China grows half of the World’s vegetables.
§ A June poll conducted by Consumer Reports magazine found that 92% of Americans support labeling meat and produce with “country of origin” labels.
§ One challenge facing Chinese food safety: poor logistics. China has two refrigerated trucks per 10,000 middle class residents, compared with nine trucks per capita in the U.S., according to consulting firm A.T. Kearney.
§ More than 20% of Chinese toys and baby clothes are substandard, according to the country’s consumer safety watchdog. China accounts for 80% of the U.S. toy market by value, according to the Business Roundtable.
§ China has to feed 10 people per hectare of arable land, twice the world average of 4.4 people per hectare, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
§ Food related illnesses cost the U.S. economy about 6$6.9 billion annually, according to the USDA.
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