China's food safety woes expand overseas
中國食品安全問題影響海外

Updated Fri. Apr. 13 2007 12:35 PM ET

Associated Press

SHANGHAI, China -- The list of Chinese food exports rejected at American ports reads like a chef's nightmare: pesticide-laden pea pods, drug-laced catfish, filthy plums and crawfish contaminated with salmonella.

美國港口拒絕接受的中國出口食品清單聽起來像是廚師的噩夢：含農藥的豌豆、吃過藥的鯰魚、骯臟的洋李和被沙門氏菌污染的龍蝦。

Yet, it took a much more obscure item, contaminated wheat gluten, to focus U.S. public attention on a very real and frightening fact: China's chronic food safety woes are now an international concern.

然而，正式一個鮮為人知的產品-被污染的麥麩，讓美國關注一個非常真實和可怕的事實：中國的食品安全問題已經成為全世界關注的問題。

In recent weeks, scores of cats and dogs in America have died of kidney failure blamed on eating pet food containing gluten from China that was tainted with melamine, a chemical used in plastics, fertilizers and flame retardants. While humans aren't believed at risk, the incident has sharpened concerns over China's food exports and the limited ability of U.S. inspectors to catch problem shipments.

近幾周來，美國大量的貓和狗死于腎衰竭，原因是吃的寵物食品中含有從中國進口的麥麩，這種麥麩被三聚氰胺（一種用于塑料、肥料和阻燃劑的化學品）污染。雖然人不會受到傷害，但這事情加劇了人們對中國出口食品的擔憂，也使人們更擔心美國檢查人員發現問題貨物的能力是有限的。

Just as with manufactured goods, exports of meat, produce, and processed foods from China have soared in recent years, prompting outcries from foreign farm sectors that are feeling pinched by low Chinese prices.

近年來，從中國進口的肉、農產品和加工食品迅速增加，引起了外國農業部門的強烈抗議，因為中國的低價產品給他們帶來很大壓力。

Worried about losing access to foreign markets and stung by tainted food products scandals at home, China has in recent years tried to improve inspections, with limited success.

一方面擔心失去國外市場，一方面又受到國內食品污染問題的刺激，中國近年來努力加強食品安全的監督，但是效果有限。

The problems the government faces are legion. Pesticides and chemical fertilizers are used in excess to boost yields while harmful antibiotics are widely administered to control disease in seafood and livestock. Rampant industrial pollution risks introducing heavy metals into the food chain.

目前政府面臨一大堆問題，為了增加產量，農作物中過量使用農藥和化肥；為了控制海產品和家畜的疾病，使用有害抗生素的現象很普遍。嚴重的工業污染使重金屬有可能進入食物鏈。

Farmers have used cancer-causing industrial dye Sudan Red to boost the value of their eggs and fed an asthma medication to pigs to produce leaner meat.

農民們為使鴨蛋賣個好價錢而使用可致癌的工業染料蘇丹紅，為提高豬的瘦肉率而給豬喂食平喘藥。

China's Health Ministry reported almost 34,000 food-related illnesses in 2005, with spoiled food accounting for the largest number, followed by poisonous plants or animals and use of agricultural chemicals.

2005年中國衛生部報告的食品引發疾病的案例近3.4萬起，其中變質食品所占比例最大，其次是有毒蔬菜和肉制品及農業化學品的實用。

With China increasingly intertwined in global trade, Chinese exporters are paying a price for unsafe practices. Excessive antibiotic or pesticide residues have caused bans in Europe and Japan on Chinese shrimp, honey and other products. Hong Kong blocked imports of turbot last year after inspectors found traces of malachite green, a possibly cancer-causing chemical used to treat fungal infections, in some fish.

隨著中國日益融入全球貿易，中國出口商正為不安全的做法付出代價。過量的抗生素和農藥殘留使歐洲和日本禁止進口中國的蝦、蜂蜜和其他產品。去年在一些魚中發現可致癌的孔雀石綠（用于某些魚類的真菌感染治療）以后，香港開始禁止進口多寶魚。

One source of the problem is China's fractured farming sector, comprised of small landholdings which make regulation difficult, experts said.

專家們說，造成這個問題的一個原因是中國的農業部門處于割裂狀態，增加了管理難度。

For foreign importers, the answer is to know your suppliers and test thoroughly, food industry experts said.

業內專家說，對于外國進口商來說，解決方法就是了解供應商并進行徹底檢驗。

Shipments from China were rejected at the rate of about 200 per month this year, the largest from any country, compared to about 18 for Thailand, and 35 for Italy, also big exporters to the U.S., according to data posted on the FDA's Web site.

根據美國FDA網站的數字，今年每個月約有200批來自中國的貨物被美國拒收，是所有國家中最多的，泰國約18批，意大利35批，他們也是美國主要的食品供應國。

To protect its foreign markets, China is trying to set up a dedicated export supply chain, sealed off from the domestic market. Systems for tracking and tracing vegetables have been set up, although doing so for meat products is harder.

為保護國外市場，中國正努力建立與國內市場隔絕的、專供出口的供應鏈。對蔬菜進行追蹤和檢查的體系已經建立，但建立肉制品的追蹤和檢查體系比較困難。

Large producers targeting foreign markets have also moved to gain greater control over supplies by expanding their operations instead of buying from individual farmers.

The tainted pet food scandal is likely to increase this momentum. More than 100 brands of pet foods and treats have been recalled, one of the largest pet food recalls in history. Menu Foods was the first of at least six companies to recall pet food, beginning in mid-March, after reported cases of cats and dogs developing kidney failure after eating the affected products.

How the contaminated wheat gluten got into the product cycle is not yet known. The gluten was traced to a company outside Shanghai, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co.

The company and the government's inspection and quarantine administration are investigating. But a company sales manager, Geng Xiujuan, said Xuzhou Anying was only a middleman, buying the gluten, commonly used as a thickener in pet food, from companies in neighboring provinces and selling it to a separate trading company.

While no investigation results have been announced, industry experts said they suspect the gluten might have been contaminated by having been processed or stored in machines or containers also used for melamine. Such anomalies show just how difficult it is to ensure purity, they said.