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April 30, 2007
Audio: Pet Food? What About Human Food?
Watch what you eat. That melamine plate made in China may have more in common with your dinner than you think.
Pet Food? What About Human Food?
Pet food is a bit off topic, but I thought it would be a public service to include this link to an article on the purposeful introduction by Chinese manufacturers of melamine, a coal-based derivative, into the animal food chain. Evidently, melamine tests out as a protein, but costs far less to the seller than the addition of genuine proteins.
What harmful inedible substances have been introduced in China -- purposefully -- into food for the human population?
Chinese manufacturers generally add salt to food sold by weight, wherever possible: preserved fruit is an example. Salt is cheap, and its addition creates a heavier product. Less fruit can thus earn more. A trick of the trade. Salt is, of course, edible and, in fact, necessary in small quantities. So what, right? I guess we can stomach a little more than we need so the seller can make an extra buck (RMB).
Then there's the farmed frozen fish and shrimp originating in China, sold in bulk at the giant discount houses. Farmed salmon flesh dyed bright orange is really cool! "Wild" salmon, caught on the line in Alaska (which you may be able to source at your fishmonger) is naturally pink. Farmed salmon flesh would be grey, but for the dye. Ok, ok, it's probably an FDA-approved dye. But if the dye originates in China and the FDA isn't really watching...
Minor problems in the food chain, you say? Consider the adulterated baby formula which caused many deaths in China. Or the motor oil recently found to have been added to Chinese rice (for the same reason as the addition of salt: weight/additional profit).
Wheat gluten for pet food is the current topic of frightened discussion. But there has been little mention of the wheat gluten sold for human consumption -- generally, one would think, by Chinese and vegetarians outside of China. Surprise, surprise, surprise. It's a filler in many human foods worldwide. Of course, not all of that filler is sourced in China. But how do we know? And what about the Chinese diet itself?
China is one of the top exporters of food stuffs to the world. Do Chinese, eating primarily what is harvested and produced within China, and the rest of the world, who consume Chinese food exports, have something to be seriously concerned about?
UPDATE (May 3, 2007): China Food Mislabeled, U.S. Says
As we cautioned above:
Worried that the contaminant may continue to enter the United States and also seep into the human food supply through food additives, regulators have blocked all Chinese imports of wheat gluten and warned importers to screen nearly every other kind of food and feed additive entering the United States from China, including corn gluten and soy protein.
Last week, the F.D.A. and the Agriculture Department issued a joint warning to consumers saying that melamine has found its way into hog and chicken feed, encouraging producers to destroy the animals, even though there is no clear evidence that consuming meat from the animals is a danger to human health.
UPDATE (May 5, 2007): Counterfeit medicines from China containing toxic substitutes.
Posted by Richard at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)April 24, 2007
Is What You Read About China Remotely Reliable?
Articles on China abound. How much do you think is simply hogwash? Click the little triangle to listen. This podcast contains additional audio supplementing the text of the original April 13 post.
April 19, 2007
American Bar Association To Hire a Program Officer in Beijing
[Editor's Note: This is clearly a search for a Chinese national, while not so stated, for obvious reasons. Unless you are the rare foreigner with a Chinese law degree -- how many are there? Any?]
The American Bar Association (ABA) seeks candidates for a Chinese legal PROGRAM OFFICER position in the Beijing program implementation office of the ABA Rule of Law Initiative.
The ABA Rule of Law Initiative is a public service project that provides technical assistance in support of legal reforms in over 40 countries around the world. ABA's program office in Beijing, with support from Washington, D.C.-based staff, supports a variety of legal reform and legal training projects in mainland China, with a particular focus on issues of public interest law, criminal justice, and good governance.
The new Program Officer, working under the supervision of ABA's China Director and Deputy Director, will be responsible for managing and implementing law-related cooperative training, symposium, research, and networking projects with Chinese institutions and organizations. The position entails management of financial and administrative aspects of cooperative projects and subgrants; monitoring and reporting on project activities and project impact; conducting research, monitoring media reports and attending conferences and meetings to follow important legal developments related to current and potential future projects; developing new program initiatives; legal research and analysis related to project and office needs; and such other duties as may be assigned from time to time. The work requires an ability to manage multiple projects at the same time; the project portfolio for this position is expected to include environmental law, criminal law, labor law and property law. Travel within China is required as necessary for meetings and program activities.
Required Qualifications:
* Chinese law degree and foreign JD or other graduate law degree
* Fluent in both Mandarin and English
* Ability to maintain and develop relationships with high-level Chinese government officials, bar association leaders, local and international NGOs, and legal academics
* Excellent legal analytical and organizational skills
* Strong sense of responsibility and ability to work independently
* Ability to multi-task and to keep the Directors fully informed of program developments
* Commitment to public interest work
Preferred Qualifications:
* Previous experience managing NGO projects or government exchange and cooperation projects
More information about the ABA Rule of Law Initiative China program is available at www.abarol.com. Interested candidates should send a cover note in English explaining their interest and qualifications, along with a brief (1-2 page maximum) resume in English by email to Ms. Ding Xia at: abadingxia@yahoo.com. Candidates will only be contacted if invited for an interview.
April 13, 2007
Is What You Read About China Remotely Reliable?
In the 1980s, the Chinese government discredited Steven Mosher, a scholar of modern China and PhD candidate at Stanford University, and expelled him from the country. China's claims are immaterial -- it was clear that he was punished for documenting the horrors of the one-child policy.
China then threatened Stanford with excommunication: no funding, no exchanges. Stanford to its great and lasting shame did the unthinkable and expelled Mosher.
At the time, I hadn't yet decided whether to enter a PhD program in Chinese Studies. But I do remember some of my university instructors cautioning me to choose a topic wisely.
Mei Tzu-lin, whom I absolutely adored, was one of the few heroic figures I have ever met in academia. He asked me whether I intended to spend my scholarly life gallivanting through the Chinese countryside, adulterating my findings and conclusions out of fear of reprisal, or whether I was a scholar determined to search for the truth. I vaguely remember stuttering something, shocked by the profundity of his question.
In this essay, discovered on Howard French's fine blog, Carsten Holz provides an answer.
Posted by Richard at 4:27 PM | Comments (4)April 9, 2007
Japan Critical of American Beef Exporters - And Therein Lies the Lesson
Ken Worsley's excellent Japan Economy News provides this morning's suggested reading.
It is a fact that American exporters in many industries assume a holier-than-thou mentality. "My product is American, and, therefore, it's great." That is no longer true. "Made in America" was once synonymous with high-quality, if only because Americans had the means to produce when others did not. The American-made products of today often epitomize mediocrity -- just look at the entertainment products we export -- and cost more than those produced elsewhere.
We as exporters need to remove pride from the equation until it is damn well deserved. Ask yourself and your organization this question: what are we doing to ensure that my international customer receives the best value for his money? Then ask it of your customer. The disparity in the responses will very likely shock you.
Posted by Richard at 1:20 PM | Comments (1)April 1, 2007
April Fools Day Audio: Confucius Prints His Namecard
Click the triangle to listen to a fun little story, voiced in Mandarin by Rich Kuslan.
