It has been a goal of mine to make sure I immerse myself in quality literature and news this year as it occurred to me that I don't read nearly enough about what is going on around me. The absence of television and the unreliability that often accompanies mass-spread media vehicles like AMNY and the Metro leave me skeptical. (Although, it is always good to question what you read)
The New York Times has been a long standing, reliable news source for the New York City area and the world. It has a reading ease of
39, which means the intended audience is those who are about to enter college and those who have completed higher levels of learning. The news has been trusted and has reflected what the reader of the metropolis in which we live desire. And as we follow the media wave towards online services for what normally is made into print, I subscribe to the online version of the Times, where I skim at lightning speed what I want to read and what I need to read.
What I have been following has been the scandal on China's food contaminations. It is deplorable how the Chinese have attempted to fake the protein levels of baby formula with a plasticized resin called Melamine. Essentially they water down the formula and add the melamine so that its protein level "appears" to be fuller by use of the nitrogen gas levels. However, by being so sneaky, this pseudo formula causes cyanuranic acids to produce which causes kidney stones and even kidney failure... in babies!!
(It has been said that China had this problem last year with animal food, but this issue concerning humans have forgotten that little bit of information and has become an outrage because that babies and possibly adults have been affected.-- China hasn't learned.)
There has been evidence that this melamine epidemic has spread to powered and condense milk products and thus a scare for all products in which they that form of milk produce. The latest NYTimes article I found,
China Widens Food Tests on Signs of New Contamination by David Barboza, made me jump out of my seat in outrage it had startled my co-worker. She was surprised that I would be so upset when I explained to her the problems. I responded by explaining that if China has problems with foods... then that whole country can have problems. (To be honest I don't trust that huge country to be on top of strict quality control and thus the signs of contaminations in other areas of the food industry doesn't surprise me). But we should also be most concerned when Hong Kong, now under China rule (but I vaguely recall that it holds separate policies with regards to most all industry works), is going to spread out their inspections. This may just mean that they are being extra careful not to damage their image and provide consumer comfort, but this could also mean that they have used products from China in which have been contaminate-- or maybe they are under China control and therefore the quality that came with the British went with them in 97'.
I have grown up an American born Chinese in a *suburban town with the familiarity of the different qualities Stamford, Connecticut food compares to that of Chinatown, Manhattan, New York. Where an apple can be simply rubbed on one's sleeve another would not even think of eating if it weren't thoroughly scrubbed. It is not to really say that in reality, an apple from the Stop & Shop is necessarily all that clean, it is just to believe that a big institution like Stop & Shop has more of a reputation as opposed to the street stands on Canal that hawk Bok Choy, Gai Lan and Fu Gua that freshly cut their goods from local farms.
Produce aside, in Stamford, quality is determined by name, in Chinatown, my mom taught, quality is in where the product is from (I'm talking more in respects to packaged foods). It is not a duel between store brand and "designer" brand names in Chinatown, but the battle of countries with their national work and ethic reputations. She said that Hong Kong is good, Taiwan is ok, China... you have to be careful. I thought it was a bias kind of thing, because she is from Hong Kong, but as it may be, evidence shows that Chinese made products is something of a worry to all of us who partake in buying Asian fare.
Back to the melamine problems in China. How does this affect us? Well, if you have a particular taste to Asian dairy products, products made with milk, chocolates maybe and it appears that eggs may also have the problem component, then either eat very little of it (as supposedly, small small doses isn't harmful) or steer clear.
I am going to assume (or it may be wishful thinking) that China will get itself out of this controversy soon, because better than they are at cutting corners, they are concerned with how they look in the eyes of the west. They will be motivated to eradicate this decline in reliability, or at least I hope so. Maybe this is some kind of inherent prejudice I have of those who share my ethnic background. It may be why I was so moved and so angry. But it appears to me to be the tragic flaw of China is its burning desire to prove to the world that they can compete with the Western world. Partial blame has be said of the capitalistic American and western influence to make some developing countries grow faster than they naturally can on their own.
Photo Courtesy: blog-couture.blogspot.com (their photo courtesy: Unknown)
Photo courtesy: www.myspace.com/ladygaga
Photo courtesy of abc.net
Me as Nicole Richie goes to court preggers for DUI
Me and Laifer (as a convincing Amy Winehouse-this isn't a good angle)
Photo courtesy of abc.net
Me as Nicole Richie goes to court preggers for DUI
Me and Laifer (as a convincing Amy Winehouse-this isn't a good angle)
