by Susan MacVittie
The nitrogen-rich industrial chemical Melamine was added to watered-down milk to mask the resulting protein deficiency and fool quality tests.
Offshore outsourcing has been a boon to the modern globalized economy, but regulating what happens in a factory half way across the world is difficult and – as in the recent case of the melamine scandal in China – can be deadly business.
Since September, well-known brands such as Cadbury and Nestle have been pulling stock from shelves in Asia. Melamine-laced baby formula and other dairy products in China are blamed for sickening nearly 54,000 children and leading to four infant deaths. The nitrogen-rich industrial chemical was added to watered-down milk to mask the resulting protein deficiency and fool quality tests.
Food safety catastrophes are not new. Melamine in pet food from China was blamed for killing thousands of cats and dogs in the US last year. In 1999, dioxin in Belgian animal feed contaminated meat and poultry products distributed around the world. In 2006, Canadians and Americans were poisoned by E.coli from fresh spinach and, earlier this year in Canada, 20 people died from a strain of Listeria linked to Maple Leaf’s Toronto packaged-meat plant. Eventually over 500 products were recalled across Canada. These cases highlight the global dimension of our food chain and the inherent difficulty of ensuring safety standards.
Foods of Mass Destruction
Indeed, the International Herald Tribune reported in October that Chinese products have been failing food inspections for years. Government data show that hundreds of Chinese shipments have been stopped by inspectors in Europe, the United States, and Asia in recent years because they contained banned chemicals or were unfit for consumption. In 2007, Chinese regulators closed 180 food manufacturers because they had been using banned dyes, hydrochloric acid, and formaldehyde in candies, seafood, pickles, and cookies.
It’s just one sign of a worldwide problem – the commodification of food. Food is now a commodity in global production and trade systems. Reduced shipping costs and lowered barriers to trade have fostered a reliance on low-cost ingredients from around the world. The corporatization of the food supply is a race to the lowest production cost, regardless of health and social hazards.
Whose Responsibility Is It?
Government: How a country regulates food varies from place to place. In Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) oversees the safety of the food supply. Melamine is now a priority of the CFIA. So far, 14 out of 450 products tested from China have been deemed unacceptable by Canadian standards.
Meanwhile government officials can often be doing dirty business with factory managers. In July 2007, the head of China’s food and drug safety agency was executed for taking bribes in return for approving drugs.
When melamine was found in milk from 22 different producers in China, nine of them had been exempt from mandatory government testing through a program aimed at rewarding companies that had gotten high marks on quality inspections in the past. This is eerily similar to recent changes in the Canadian food inspection system, which transfers responsibility for inspections from the government to the companies.
There is also a need for more inspectors to enforce regulations. Last year, the US imported more than two trillion dollars worth of products from around 825,000 importers. Only this year will the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) open its first overseas offices in China as part of efforts to regulate food imported to the United States.
Company: Globalization blurs traditional notions of corporate responsibility, including the idea that companies are beholden to the communities in which they are located.
In Canada and the US, companies are mindful of the importance of public relations. Food is also kept safer by consumer safety laws, an independent legal system, free media, and civil society organizations. China lacks many of these institutions. Business in China is ultra-competitive and companies may feel compelled to break the rules in order to survive. The Sanlu Group, partly owned by New Zealand dairy export giant Fonterra, refused to recall melamine-tainted baby formula for at least a month after discovering problems.
Consumer: Consumer tastes play a role in the globalized food trade. We expect imported seasonal products to be available year-round. We also demand processed food that is ready-to-eat and high in quality but low in cost.
Determining the source of food products can be difficult. The product label can be deceiving. In May, Prime Minister Harper announced that food products labeled ‘Made in Canada’ would need to list ingredients from foreign sources on the label. Under current laws it is legal to call a product ‘Made in Canada’ if 51% of production costs are incurred in Canada and the final transformation occurred in Canada.
Shopping for food is a political act. We can support the local food system by buying local, organically grown food at farmers’ markets or by asking for it in grocery stores. This doesn’t mean we have to give up bananas or oranges. We can buy and sell locally and also support sustainable international agriculture around the globe.
Better yet, we can grow our own. Even a few containers on the patio bursting with salad greens gives a sense of homegrown satisfaction far away from the risky business of food corporatization.
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Sources
Canadian Food Inspection Agency, www.inspection.gc.ca
The International Herald Tribune, Oct 12, 2008
Canada Safety Council, www.safety-council.org
[Watershed Sentinel, Nov/Dec, 2008]
