I fear about the food and for my relatives

This post may make me sound a bit hypocritical, considering what I wrote in the previous entry. I must clarify that even though I do not think people should condemn China too much for how utterly terrible its conditions are right now, the conditions in China are not the most ideal. This includes the food industry.

I’m sure that many of you have heard about the poisonous fish or industrial-branded toothpaste coming from China. Since I’m living in America, I’m not too concerned, since the food inspection administration should and have taken care of making sure everything is safe. The products which are not food, such as the toothpaste that contained some harmful substances, were only sold at $1 Dollar stores; I have yet to buy or even hear of a person buying toothpaste from a $1 Dollar store. However, I am gravely worried for my relatives who live in China. If manufactures have enough courage to dare ship harmful foods to America, food from China will definitely also be harmful.

Recently, I heard a story that made me sick to my stomach. Stinky tofu is a exotic food in some parts of China (I have never tasted it and after reading this, I never do want to taste it). Ordinarily, it is created by fermenting tofu (similar to how the Europeans would age cheese). This would create a repugnant smell that some people can’t stand, while others like the taste and think its quite delicious. From what I’ve read, it can taste exotic.

Thus, a few business owners wanted to gain a bigger profit and so they started frying tofu with feces. The full story can be read here (if you cannot read Chinese, use a translator to translate the page).

I am not sure if the story is actually true. Chinese new websites are notorious for creating bogus stories in order to get visits and readers. However, this article at least reflects the state of the food industry in China. Business owners are willing to do whatever to get money and this can lead to detrimental health effects on a big populations. This is why I worry for the safety of my relatives.

My relatives are scared to eat meat, including chicken, red meat, and fish. They can only eat red meat once in a while, but they have heard stories of poisons being injected in chicken and fish. Chemicals unhealthy to the body could also be injected into vegetables, but it doesn’t seem as likely right now. So, really, my relatives can only eat rice and vegetables, and those may not even be safe!