After contaminated Chinese produce turned up in the Philippines and Indonesia, Thailand also found carcinogens and excessive lead and mercury content in some vegetables and fruits imported from China. The Thai authorities destroyed some of the contaminated produce and shipped some back to China. The authorities also advised consumers to be cautious when buying vegetables and fruits from China.
Thai health officials recently conducted sample tests on 11,500 types of vegetables and fruits imported from China at the Chiang Saen port in Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. The testers found excessively high levels of pesticides in many types of vegetables including Chinese cabbage, leaf mustard, lotus root and radish. High levels of sulfur dioxide were found in some dried foods such as white fungus and salty strawberry preserves. Moreover, some candies and gum were found to contain artificial colors forbidden in Thailand, and excessive levels of some other artificial colors.
In addition, the health officials also found excessive aflatoxin in Chinese-packaged dried hot peppers, as well as excessive mercury in some seafood and pickled bean curd. The substances can cause neurological and digestive system damage, and if ingested over the long term can cause cancer.
The chief of the Thailand Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told the media that in order to avoid harming trade relations with China, at this stage the Thai government will not impose any bans on the import of Chinese vegetables, fruits or dried products, nor list those questionable products on blacklists. However, he warned that the Thai FDA will intensify its examination of products imported from China, and will destroy or return suspect products.
The Thai FDA also urged consumers to carefully examine vegetables, fruits and dry products from China before purchasing them, and be particularly wary to excessively bright colors and unnatural smells of the foods.
The FDA Chief also said that it is hard for Chinese food safety units to supervise product quality and maintain a consistent standard across such a big country. Besides, he pointed out, many food producers in China are sacrificing quality and safety to quantity.
Recently, food and other products made in China have received particular international attention as safety problems have occurred with a large variety of China products ranging from toothpaste, pet food, toys, and cosmetics to automotive tires. In Southeast Asia, bans on Chinese products started with the Philippines who prohibited the import of certain brands of cookies and candies made in China.
Immediately after, Indonesia banned cosmetics and tonics from China. Now Thailand is also reinforcing on the examinations on Chinese food products. How to restore international society's confidence in Chinese products will be a serious challenge for China.
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