More on Chinese-American Food Interchange

In thinking more about why Chinese bad products are so disturbing, I also was thinking about the rejection of American meat by China. I first assumed that the Chinese government were just retaliating. They have kind of a sledge hammer approach: after all, they just put the head of food safety in their country to death, why wouldn't they try to punish us too.

However, maybe even the Chinese authorities have a point about the American tolerance for low levels of salmonella in raw meat even if their food isn't handled so purely either. The case is documented here: In Role Reversal, China Blocks Some U.S. Meat, by Ariana Eunjung Cha and Renae Merle, Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, July 15, 2007.

My friend whose field is public health, and who often travels to China, commented on the lack of hygiene in China several years ago, describing a pile of shrimp being shelled and put on a filthy floor as his example. It's not really a new thing: just a new fad to notice it.