What the hell is wrong with China?

[bigdog5994]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/China/From_China_reused_chopsticks/articleshow/2302054.cms

BEIJING: A Beijing factory recycled used chopsticks and sold up to 100,000 pairs a day without any form of disinfection, a newspaper said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of Chinese food and product safety scares.

Counterfeit, shoddy and dangerous products are widespread in China, whose exports have been rocked in recent months by a spate of safety scandals, ranging from pet food to medicine, tires, toothpaste and toys. Officials raided the factory and seized about half a million pairs of recycled disposable bamboo chopsticks and a packaging machine, the Beijing News said.

The owner, identified only by his surname Wu, said he had sold the recycled chopsticks for 0.04 yuan a pair and made an average of about 1,000 yuan ($130) a day. Wu, who had no license to sell the goods, said he had sold 100,000 pairs a day when business was good.

China, on track to overtake the US this year as the world's second-largest exporter, lacks the manpower to enforce food and drug safety regulations at home or for export. Imports are generally carefully scrutinised.

A lack of business ethics and a spiritual vacuum after China embraced economic reforms in the late 1970s have been blamed for unscrupulous business practices and corruption.

In Guangzhou, capital of booming Guangdong province in south China, Mayor Zhang Guangning vowed to bankrupt serious violators of food and product safety.

The Hong Kong owner of a Guangdong manufacturer at the centre of a recall of millions of Chinese-made toys by US giant Mattel had committed suicide, according to Hong Kong media.

China has said the world should have faith in the "made-in-China" label and that a spate of product recalls has been unfair, biased and politically motivated.

"No country can guarantee their food to be 100% safe, but if one in 100 or even in 1,000 of our products has quality problems, we will deal with it seriously," Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said on Tuesday when meeting former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright.

for me this is the last straw, i mean how much more crap can we put up with they need to get there stuff together

 

[The Yankee]

Obviously another tactic to keep costs as low as possible, oddly, at any cost.

 

[Mango]

This happens everywhere. You just hear about it more now because a few big cases have focused the media's attention on it.

 

[Ramius75]

Lack of ethics, enforcement and too much corruptions. I think.

 

[Mango]

Lack of ethics, enforcement and too much corruptions. I think.

Well if you are just going to quote the article...

 

[Dann]

Aaargghh!!! First I had to stop eating meat buns for all eternity and now I have to bring my own chopsticks too wherever I go?!

 

[Gecko1]

First they infect the toys then the blankets now the food. Hmm... makes me wonder why they are buying American scrap metal. coughjapan1930scough

 

[Ramius75]

Well if you are just going to quote the article...

izzit ?? oh ok, coz i never actually read it...

 

[Jawz II]

Hell this aint nothing, you should see the stuff I read about how they "pereserve" their meat, in places like china and vietnam, they sometimes put all kinds of cancerous, poisonous chemicals in their meats, since refrigeration is too costly and isnt available every where.

But thats what they do to the meat they themselves eat, their export foods are the good stuff.

 

[warpus]

It's full of Chinese people?

Just kidding.. China is just accepting capitalism with her arms wide open.. Nothing to see here!

 

[Ramius75]

It's full of Chinese people?

Just kidding.. China is just accepting capitalism with her arms wide open.. Nothing to see here!

indeed, market force will eventually force it to observe food safety standard and other things.

 

[warpus]

indeed, market force will eventually force it to observe food safety standard and other things.

I was being sarcastic; hoping to point out the pitfalls of unregulated capitalism.

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

China, on track to overtake the US this year as the world's second-largest exporter, lacks the manpower to enforce food and drug safety regulations at home or for export.

The article you posted answered your question. And I'm sure Chinese are just dying to poison absolutely everyone they can by selling shoddy merchandise. Never mind that in a country of over 1.3 billion, where hundreds of millions of products are consumed daily, you've managed to point out a single instance of improper business practices that has, as of yet, resulted in no hospitalizations or deaths.

Not only that, you're right to criticize the Chinese government for doing the right thing and shutting down such an operation. It's too bad that it was allowed to operate in the first place; if it weren't, you'd criticize them even more.

 

[Dann]

Ultimately it boils down to the fact that a lot of ordinary Chinese people today already have the means to go into business for themselves (yay capitalism) but have yet to acquire a sense of business ethics! (boo education) In their minds everything is okay "as long as people don't die", 'as long as I can get away with it" etc.

The road ahead is still very long.....

 

[MobBoss]

The article you posted answered your question. And I'm sure Chinese are just dying to poison absolutely everyone they can by selling shoddy merchandise. Never mind that in a country of over 1.3 billion, where hundreds of millions of products are consumed daily, you've managed to point out a single instance of improper business practices that has, as of yet, resulted in no REPORTED hospitalizations or deaths.

I corrected your statement. Its not exactly as if they have a free press in China now is it?

 

[Ramius75]

I was being sarcastic; hoping to point out the pitfalls of unregulated capitalism.

but its true, market force will eventually force it to change. the consumers will be more aware.

 

[Japanrocks12]

there's a line between the pragmatic and the unsanitary. don't think its necessary for me to say whether that line has been crossed or not.

 

[Verbose]

indeed, market force will eventually force it to observe food safety standard and other things.

Only on the assumption that the information customers need flows freely, and even then it's not exactly a lightning fast and fool-proof process.

 

[plarq]

Consumers ARE aware, but to no avail. The government puts some effort in regulation, but I know that they're not serious.

 

[The Yankee]

indeed, market force will eventually force it to observe food safety standard and other things.

Only if it becomes more profitable to do so (or, by inverting it, less profitable to not do so).