Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Chinese Food Anyone?

Chemical concerns grow over China's livestock feed

BEIJING (AFP) — China's state-run press warned Friday a toxic chemical found in eggs and milk was likely being mixed into livestock feed, in the clearest official indication yet that other foods may be contaminated.

"The feed industry seems to have acquiesced to agree on using the chemical to reduce production costs while maintaining the protein count for quality inspections," the state-run China Daily said in an editorial.

Authorities in the eastern metropolis of Shanghai have already ordered that more than 100 fish farming enterprises in the city be tested to see if their feed is tainted with melamine, the Shanghai Daily reported.

It was one of the first reports warning seafood may also be laced with the chemical that made headlines in August after authorities admitted it had been mixed into milk.

The contaminated milk resulted in the deaths of four babies from kidney failure and the sickening of 53,000 others.

Hong Kong authorities reported last weekend that melamine had also been detected in Chinese eggs, leading to concerns the chemical was much more prevalent in China's food chain than initially believed. Read More

When agriculture producers are legislated out of business in this country, these are the problems we have to look forward to with imported food.

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