A Taste for Toxins

Chinese shoppers are used to warnings about tainted food. According to a November report by the Asian Development Bank, food-borne disease affects 300 million Chinese per year, costing up to $14 billion in lost productivity and medical expenses. But a recent string of high-profile health scares involving toxic ingredients has consumers worried about more than a stomachache.

In Hong Kong, imports of freshwater fish from the mainland were halted in November for 18 days after officials discovered MALACHITE GREEN, a banned fungicide possibly linked to cancer, in samples of fish from local markets.

On Feb. 5, the Chinese government released a list of 10 of last year’s most egregious food-safety cases—everything from selling homemade beer in brand-name bottles to making edible gelatin from OLD LEATHER. The top spot went to a firm in Jiangsu province busted for adulterating its nationally sold nutritional supplement, supposedly made from silkworm chrysalis. The real ingredients? Dried pig’s blood and chicken feathers.

On Feb. 6, Chinese health officials ordered six kinds of lipstick from two Shantou-based companies—including a strawberry-flavored variety—pulled from stores after they were found to contain SUDAN RED, an industrial dye known to cause cancer in lab animals. The dye, used to color petrol and floor polish, has also shown up in some Chinese chili powders and eggs.

Tests by environmental group Greenpeace recently detected residue from banned PESTICIDES such as DDT in 4 out of 5 mainland-grown tangerines, strawberries and green vegetables bought in Hong Kong produce markets. One tangerine tested positive for 13 different pesticides.