Melamine in Food

Good informed discussion on food and imports over at chowhound...

A couple of Fundamentals:

!. China has been trading worldwide for a very long time, but the Communist revolution suppressed and dispersed its business class. The people doing ill are newbies or the unscrupulous, who in time will be weeded out.

2. Chinese as businesspeople operate around the world delivering product to specification, on time at a fair price. That is how they are getting rich. Yes, there are unscrupulous people in China, just like anywhere. The question is how do you operate in such a world?

3. Back in the 1960’s “Made In Japan” was a warning label. Coming out of WWII, the Japanese economy was a wild west show, like China today. China is specifically emulating USA and Japan in their march into the modern economy. There is nothing coming out of China that we have not seen come out of USA suppliers onto the USA market. To identify it as a “China” problem is a mistake.

4. There is a sleight of hand: since we have government inspectors and regulators, products must be safe. Consumers are confident they may consume what is on the shelves. Some retailers are confident as well. When you buy the product you are trusting the retailer, who is trusting the governmnet. The unscrupulous maker can combne with the unscrupulous importer, and bring the bad stuff in.

Enough people know this to know their products, and avoid the unscrupulous. Those in the know will survive. Those who shop on price only and trust the government risk seeing their puppies and infants die.

Enough people know this to know they cn import enough bad stuff to make a killing and move on with a few hundred thousand profit never to be caught. The trick is not to be “anti-Chinese” or more regulations or more government, the trick is to get back to caveat emptor, you are on you own, so be careful. It is true anyway, but when you know it, you hold your retailer more closely accoountable. They in turn hold the importer more accountable, and so on. It is the natural regulation.

As for those looking for revenge, don’t worry. The people the Chinese have arrested will be shot. The Chinese are in a hurry to get where USA is, and this might be just the shortcut.

Bookmark this post --- Email this post