Sprouts and More – China’s Food Unsafety

Fruits, milk formula, rice, chicken nuggets, rat meat, abalone and goose feet have a fateful common feature: They have all been featured in the Chinese headlines for food scandals. Now bean sprouts from a Beijing production site are on the top of the list due to the latest discovery of the bean sprouts containing banned additives. Food safety is a major concern in China where products with forbidden add-ins are regularly discovered. While in 2008 only 12% of Chinese claimed food safety to be a problem, this amount grew almost seven-fold to 80% in 2014 according to Horizon Research.

The rapid increase in Chinese consumers concerned about domestic products came to light on a grand scale with the melamine baby formula scandal in 2008. The subsequent lack of trust is still raw with many consumers, leading to Hong Kong implementing a two-can limit on the amount of baby milk powder travelers are allowed to carry in order to restrict arbitrary trade. Violators can face up to two years in prison.

The newest report about bean sprouts being treated with 6-benzyladenine, a synthetic plant growth regulator, show again China’s lack of certainty for clean and safe domestic food. The toxic addition makes the plant develop faster, thicker and longer while the roots stay shorter than growing naturally. Consumed in large quantities, it can cause premature puberty, disrupt menstrual cycles and contribute to osteoporosis.

Bean sprouts are an important ingredient in Chinese cuisine - daily consumption of sprouts is about 300 tons in Beijing alone. 20 tons of the poisonous sprouts were estimated to be sold each day in the capital, Hebei and Shandong Provinces in September, worth ¥1.82 million ($295,800).

China’s soil pollution remains one of its biggest food production challenges. Almost 20% of the country’s farmland is heavily contaminated – roughly the size of Great Britain. In central Hunan province, more than three quarters of the ricefields have been contaminated. In 2013, toxic rice tainted with cadmium that is normally used for coatings of cell phones, cameras and computers caused alarm. While the rural population are often unaware of the health risks heavy metals and the over use of fertilizers entail, urban residents are becoming more careful choosing their food. According to a BCG survey published in February this year, 73% are willing to pay a premium for healthy products, proving that Chinese consumers are the most health conscious worldwide. Two thirds claim that living in urban areas is unhealthy, resulting in the retail health market being expected to more than double to ¥400 billion ($67 billion) between 2012 and 2020.

With food and drug safety being the third-biggest concern for Chinese healthy and safe food will continue to soar. Ongoing food scandals reflect the common Chinese expression for accepting problems without solutions “mei ban fa” (没办法). Let’s hope some solutions are found soon.