China Bans Lye, Boric Acid From Food

Insecticides, Drain Cleansers Also On Ministry Of Health List Of Illegal Food Additives

(AP)  Substances commonly used as industrial dyes, insecticides and drain cleaners were included on a list of illegal food additives China released Monday as part of a months-long government crackdown aimed at improving the country's shoddy food safety record.

Among the 17 banned substances was boric acid, commonly used as an insecticide, which is mixed with noodles and meatballs to increase elasticity, a statement posted on the Ministry of Health Web site said. Also forbidden was industrial formaldehyde and lye, used in making soap and drain cleaner and added to water used to soak some types of dried seafood to make the products appear fresher and bigger.

A scandal over melamine-tainted infant formula, which likely killed six babies and sickened 294,000 others earlier this year, prompted the government food safety campaign last week.

The list of banned substances was released by a government committee tasked with weeding out the practice of augmenting food products with nonfood additives. Local authorities were also warned to watch out for another 10 food additives that are often used excessively.

"This list provides clues for relevant departments as they carry out this campaign," said the statement, adding that the list was not comprehensive.

The government had previously banned some of the 17 substances as separate scandals rocked the country and raised concerns over products such as milk and eggs, but the list released Monday appeared to mark the first attempt at compiling the information.

Also on the list were various industrial dyes that are added to improve the appearance of food products, ranging from chili powder to tea to cooked meats.

The government working group even listed an addictive substance made from the poppy plant and related to opium, which can be used as a painkiller. It is often used in hot pot, a Chinese dish where meat, vegetables and tofu are cooked at the table.

Along with the banned additives, the government named 10 substances such as colorings, preservatives and artificial flavorings that should not be used excessively.

The list will help local inspectors target food products more likely to be problematic. The investigation will focus on goods made by small food factories, which are often poorly regulated, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Among China's 500,000 food processors, 70 percent have fewer than 10 employees, Xinhua said.

Previously banned items on the list were Sudan red, a cancer-causing industrial dye used to color egg yolks, and melamine, an industrial chemical used in plastics that is added to watered-down milk to fool protein tests measuring nitrogen content.

(Left: A child suffering from problems related to consuming tainted milk formula rests at a hospital in Shijiazhuang, Sept. 18, 2008.)

China is also looking into the practice of adding melamine to animal feed after finding eggs spiked with the chemical in October, the state-run China Daily said Monday. China's National Feed Office found 27 cases of contamination among 22,700 samples and forwarded the problematic batches to police, the paper said.

China first banned the use of melamine in animal feed in June 2007, after wheat gluten used in pet food was found to contain excessive melamine. The ingredient was blamed for killing dogs and cats in North America.

In related news, a court last week refused to accept a lawsuit filed against a Chinese dairy by dozens of families who said their children were sickened or killed by tainted milk, lawyers involved in the case said.

The 63 defendants in the first-known group lawsuit stemming from the scandal, including the parents of two children who died, were seeking nearly 14 million yuan ($2 million) in compensation from state-owned Sanlu Group Co., Beijing-based lawyer Xu Zhiyong said.

Three of six defense lawyers presented the suit to the Hebei Supreme Court's registry office on Monday but were told Monday it could not be accepted because government departments were still investigating.

"We think it was their excuse for not accepting the case. We will continue to push the case and give them pressure," said activist lawyer Li Fangping, who helped organize the case.

[tngreen]

Yes, it''s clear that we have too much government regulation. We should definitely reduce the size of government, get them out of private industry, and give all of that tax money back to the "people who earned it." After all, who needs Big Brother nosing around in their business? We need more individual responsibility, like those Chinese have. Let people run their own @#$* lab tests on their food before they eat it--why should the government get involved in food safety and drive the price up for those of us who don''t mind eating boric acid?

[incog-nito]

You know, the pig heads in the picture are probably in somebody''s hot dog right now, and they don''t even know it.

[incog-nito]

There''''s only one thing we can do. Buy locally and American manufactured items as often as possible. If you must buy something foreign or overseas, just be sure it''''s from a location that doesn''''t have a record of poisoning us or our children.

Posted by OneWorldUSA at 12:18 AM : Dec 16, 2008

That''s not going to happen. For one thing, the average consumer simply does not have the time and energy to research every product to see where it comes from. Second, companies can easily go around that problem, such as shipping the stuff to an intermediate country or mixing foreign and domestic content. Third, with the economic downturn people are more concerned with cutting costs than buying local.

The only solution that works, but one that no one dares mention (probably due to years of indoctrination), is bring back tariffs and protecting domestic industries. Sure it will make things more expensive, but then buying local usually does. More importantly, it will stem the outsourcing and permanent job loss that is the real reason for the crippling economy.

[shanev137]

Sounds like Bush has been in charge of their FDA.

[honestabe8]

No lye? There goes all that Chinese Lutefisk...

[oneworldusa]

I happen to know, that one of the reasons the US imports foods (from overseas at a lower cost, if one can imagine) is because the US does not regulate imports as it does domestically produced products. So, for example, if you buy peanuts, they may be from China because US growers are banned from using dangerous chemicals, if they follow the law. There is little or no regulation about what foreign countries do to their foods that are imported. So, in effect, we''re getting foods in many cases the US has banned in the States that contain exactly the kinds of materials and chemicals not allowed in production here. How does this make any sense at all?

There''s only one thing we can do. Buy locally and American manufactured items as often as possible. If you must buy something foreign or overseas, just be sure it''s from a location that doesn''t have a record of poisoning us or our children.

[oneworldusa]

Well, gee, its about time. Now how about banning melamine from our babies'' foods, BHP from their bottles and lead from their toys.....

[debinok1]

rareben,
To be honest I am amazed we have survived this long, on top of the food, the water and the poisons in the air, the medications they design to "cure" diseases cause 10 more problems than the 1 they were designed to fix. Its no wonder our children are suffering from ADD, ADHD, Autism, Bi Polar Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Look at their enviroment, something they have no choice in, yet they are exposed every day.

[hailstorm-harry]

DebinOK,

Even worse, the US has no labeling requirements for genetically modified (GMO)food. At least half of our food supply is US now comes from GMO foods, which is banned in Europe or if it exists in the food product it is required on the food label to say so. When it comes to food safety, Europe looks at America the same way America looks at China. That''s why I started shopping at organic food stores a couple years ago. I try to stay away from the Frankenstein food whenever possible.

[debinok1]

Even our "fresh" fruits and vegetables are not nutritious any more, to many pesticides soaking into the soil without replacing the nutrients. Our "fresh" meats are being loaded with growth hormones and who knows what else.

[debinok1]

Geesh, me and my typos, "children being born"

[debinok1]

Don''''t think US food producers are that much better. Ever wonder why the US has some of the highest cancer and heart disease rates in the world? It''''s because we eat the most over-processed, chemical and additive laden food in the world! Check the ingredient label on almost anything in the supermarket. Most of that *** you can''''t even pronounce! And then these same American companies will gladly outsource their ingredients to a China company where the standards are even lower all in the name of greater profit!

Posted by rareben
Your not telling me anything I didnt already know, Our food, our water, our air. its all poison. And we wonder why our fertility rates are tanking, why our children are baing born with so many problems(autism for instance), why our health continually declines regardless of how healthy we try to live.

[hailstorm-harry]

Don''t think US food producers are that much better. Ever wonder why the US has some of the highest cancer and heart disease rates in the world? It''s because we eat the most over-processed, chemical and additive laden food in the world! Check the ingredient label on almost anything in the supermarket. Most of that *** you can''t even pronounce! And then these same American companies will gladly outsource their ingredients to a China company where the standards are even lower all in the name of greater profit!

[debinok1]

I wonder just how much of that toxic food makes it onto american grocery store shelves. No wonder this countries health problems are escalating.

[omega40]

The problem is the lye tends to eat the melamine in Chinese exported food.

[zzy-izzy]

AND I WONDER WHY I HAVE A CRAVING FOR DRAIN CLEANER.

[cbs_bull]

In some years, Chinese may evolve into a totally different human spicies... Thanks to their imaginative food makers.

[slinginrich]

China Bans Lye, Boric Acid From Food
Insecticides, Drain Cleansers
Also On Ministry Of Health List Of Illegal Food Additives

Now if they could just eliminate the Feces and Ground-Up Body Parts, they''d be half way there.....

[incog-nito]

And yet the U.S. still gladly hands our manufacturing capacity, jobs, and future economic prosperity over to China, all for cheap trinkets sold at Wal-Mart.

Go figure.

[impeach___w]

The new law does not take effect until later next year...
All food shipped to the Middle east, indonesia and pakistan is fried up in a wok with those pig heads...