China Contamination in Every Corner of your Kitchen

You have probably seen some of the news coverage that Smithfield Foods, a Virginia company that is the world’s largest pork producer, is being bought by Shaunghui, a Chinese company.

Here’s a quote from yesterday’s (May 30, 2013) New York Times:

“If you dined on tilapia recently, chances are it came from China. And that artificial vanilla you just used to make cookies? It too may have made the same long journey to your kitchen in the United States.”

"We should definitely give the Chinese an award for creativity in adulterating foods. They are a great resource for counterfeited foods ...”
- Food safety expert
Isn’t Tilapia Supposed to be Healthy?

The problem is, usually in China the tilapia is raised in crowded ponds heavily contaminated with sewage. They solve the problem by dumping toxic chemicals into the ponds to kill the bacteria in the sewage. So the fish don’t get infections, but the chemicals are still in the fish when you put it on the family dinner table.

“Importing more and more foods from China ... more and more scandals involving Chinese companies” -- The New York Times

The article goes on to review some of the more notorious incidents but there are countless more:

Melamine deliberately put into baby formula and pet foods (multiple times)
Cadmium in rice (it is also in some rice protein)
The latest episode involved doctoring rat meat with pigment and nitrates and selling it as lamb
You really should read the entire NY Times article by clicking here.

Fortunately more and more people are recognizing the risk. It Affects Each of Us

You know from our earlier emails that this is a concern of ours – and that concern is why OPURITY offers the only complete multivitamins with nothing whatsoever from China.

Even Congress is holding hearings about “The Threat of China’s Unsafe Consumables” One subcommittee head noted, “The health and safety ... United States and Europe ... people around the world ... dependent on the quality of goods imported from China. Yet the task of inspecting and testing Chinese goods is beyond the ability of governments ...” In other words, the risks are increasing and government is not able to look out for you.

About Shaunghui, the company buying Smithfield

Two years ago, Shaunghui was caught using a banned chemical, clenbuterol, in the pork it was raising. Once they were caught, they apologized and promised to improve. If they get caught again in the future, I am sure they will apologize again, and promise to improve again.