K A S H R U T . C O M_©

The following news is from asiainspection.com on January 25, 2012.

"51% of food inspections conducted in Mainland China failed. While the majority of these inspections were failed because of minor defects, 10% were for critical defects with an extreme case involving contamination by a large quantity of rodent fecal matter. The fact that over half of all Chinese food inspections fail is even more alarming when compared to an average failure rate for non-food products of about 30%." Food packaging, with a 2011 inspection failure rate of 57% is just as critical. "But by the time food leaves the factory and hits store shelves, toxic amounts of contaminants like formaldehyde and lead can leech out of packaging, contaminate food and cause serious harm to consumers." Chemical contaminents are also commmonplace in Chinese factories but in small enough percentage that they may not be easy to spot.