27 Oct 07 CTV W5 report that food from China is heavily tainted with Malachite Green

and of course Malachite Green is a carcinogen. W5 has always been a great news program, and tonight they examine the quantity of food being exported from China… plus they got limited but supervised video footage of Chinese food processing and farming facilities.

I snacked on a can of Tasteful brand of smoked mussels earlier this afternoon. They are made in China, imported by Dollarama, and sold at CAD $1.00 for an 85g tin.

Can’t make my mini-cold any worse… or can it ? :/

OK, it’s on now on W5.. lead story. Liveblogging it:

China has gone from being the number 8 producer of food imported to Canada to number 2 – right behind the US….

Video shows a fish / shrimp farming operation where the fish farmer (on a plywood “raft”) throws food to his fish just a few dozen meters where someone else is spreading pesticides on a field…

Bill Chu got incredibly sick after eating mixed frozen seafood that he cooked…. 10 minutes after, his head became bloated and had to go to ER.

He has been lobbying Ottawa to take action – Malachite Green is a food processing additive that is a carcinogen apparently, and is used to treat fish and seafood in China…. but not allowed in Canada.

They interviewed a rep (missed her name) from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency … and she said that they now test a sample of EVERY shipment coming in (since 2005) for Malachite Green.

A year and a half later … W5 did it themselves for a Dacefish picked up in Toronto… at the T&T Supermarket…

Leucomalachite Green showed up in that fish…… and according to the CFIA it should not have made it in.

Now Bob Kingston of the union representing CFIA food inspectors (and a former food inspector himself) says that they’re understaffed… well of course. He says they are being reactive in terms of food inspection – someone has to get sick before they react.

Now about Veggie Booty a snack by Robert’s American Gourmet.. infected with a rare strain of salmonella… a family bought it for their family.. they always bought organic…. but their daughter ate it – had a fever of 105F for several days and then passing blood! 60 other people got sick from here. It said product of New York….

The loophole ? Product of Canada vs. Made in Canada. For example… apple juice with ingredients from else.. import it and bring it here and add water… voila. Apple Juice product of Canada.

CTV W5 staffer posed as a consumer, phoning major cereal manufacturers asking if their cereals had ingredients from China .. over the phone – the answer? They don’t know. “It’s not information they track”

The exception was Kellogs who sent a full list of ingredients and their sources…

Jamieson Vitamins – largest makers of vitamins in Canada… went to China to monitor… and they visited China and said the manufacturing facilities in China did not look fit for any sort of human consumption type products – food…. pills, etc. So now they (Jamieson) sticks to large multinational companies in China – and tests regularly everything they bring in.

Now the irony is that my plan for dinner tonight is …. shrimp and scallops – but they’re from Thailand! with basmati….

Health Canada has launched www.healthycanadians.gc.ca with information about food and consumer / child product recalls – it was launched October 24th.