China Food Industry’s Ugly 8: Looking Back at 2014

In retrospect 2014 was an extremely significant year for China’s food industry and witnessed the promulgation and drafting of some extremely important regulations. Unfortunately for policymakers the headway made in improving China’s legislative and regulatory system was marred by the occurrence of several spotlight stealing food scandals. While regulators are still chipping away at the proverbial tip of China’s food safety iceberg, if we move beneath the surface, away from the glossy veneer presented by China’s new food regulatory system, we can see that the problems of the past still plague China’s food industry. Below is a roundup of the 8 most significant scandals and major events that occurred in China’s food industry in 2014 

1. Husi Scandal

In Jul, 2014, Husi Group, a meat supplier to McDonald’s, KFC and other fast food chains were found selling expired and contaminated meat to clients and ultimately Chinese and Japanese consumers(See ChemLinked News). The Husi scandal rocked the nation, reverberating from the scandals epicenter in Shanghai, radiating out as far as Hong Kong and Japan. Product recalls were instituted and the Chinese public rallied, united in disgust at the graphic pictures of decidedly unsanitary and unethical practices routinely used at Husi’s Shanghai processing plant. The wave of public sentiment spurred legislators to quick action culminating in a witch hunt, public trial and a “heads on pikes” happy ending. The scandal underlined issues regarding supply chain supervision, particularly quality assurance processes and product traceability.   

2. GM Food

The safety of GM foods is still a matter of significant debate amongst the scientific community. The widespread acceptability of these foodstuffs is more a testament to the lobbying power and marketing strategies of corporate giants like Monsanto as opposed to being underlined by any clear scientific consensus on GM food safety.  2014 was a year that raised a large number of concerns on GM foods in China. Public debate in this area mainly centered on the long-term negative effects GM food might have on human bodies, including its carcinogenicity. From a regulatory aspect public and policymakers were concerned about labelling, customs inspection and plantation management practices.

3. Microbiological Contamination

Microbiological contamination was a priority problem for China’s food industry in 2014. According to CFDA’s regular list of customs inspection failures, microbial contamination is a primary reason for inspection failure especially among meat and bottled waters products.

4. Food Additives

Improper use of food additives is also a major source of public concern. The most significant event involving improper use of food additives involved yet another fast food chain giant “Subway”. Following the incident Subway announced a blanket ban on azodicarbonamide in its sandwich bread (See ChemLinked News).

5. China’s Dairy Industry

2014 was a hugely significant year for China’s dairy industry and saw the promulgation of China’s most significant dairy regulations to date. Dairy news is still dominated by China’s infant formula market and 2014 failed to disappoint in terms of significant movement at both regulatory and commercial levels. Both established and new investors are moving swiftly to consolidate market shares and take up the slack created in the wake of these new regulations. Major players in China’s domestic industry were involved in significant multimillion dollar moves, pointing towards the future success of China’s plans to improve the competiveness of domestic industry by imposing regulatory selective pressures and forcing M&A within the industry.

6. Tainted Bean Sprouts

Circulation of tainted bean sprouts was reported many times in 2014. 6-BA, 4-CPA and GA contamination was found in numerous bean sprout samples. However since these events were reported our sources have suggested that both 6-BA and GA will be listed in the pending draft list of pesticides exempted from maximum limits.

7. Food Adulteration

Fox meat was found in donkey meat products sold in Walmart and honey products were processed with artificial sweeteners. Almost every week brings some occurrence of food adulteration in China. At this stage the issue is simply a matter of scale and generally speaking only larger scale occurrences tend to pique public interest.

8. Taiwan Gutter Oil

2014 served us up tainted meat, flavored with an array of exotic untested and unregulated ingredients with a tasty side of fox and contaminated bean sprouts. But what meal would be complete without a healthy dose of fatty acids….? The Taiwan gutter oil scandal involved over 1000 Taiwanese businesses involved in the manufacture, distribution, usage of oils processed from corpse oil, gutter oil, leather cleaner, animal feed oil and recycled oil, ultimately consumed by Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Chinese citizens.