Comments on: The White Rabbit Candy Incident

By: swirlingnotions

swirlingnotions — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:16:13 +0000

I’m so glad you brought this up. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, and was pondering it this morning after hearing of another melamine incident on NPR. I love shopping in Asian markets here, but with the food safety issues from China hitting on several fronts (milk, seafood, etc.), I have to admit that I haven’t been to my local market for months, and have begun buying my staple ingredients from the “ethnic” aisle at Safeway.

I think what disturbs me most about these incidents is that there is a sort of malicious intent behind them–the companies are making the decision to let toxins be dumped into the waters where fish are being farmed, and clearly adding melamine to their products, it’s not like a one-time, the milk was accidentally tainted kind of thing. And that then makes me suspect of anything coming from China . . . if the companies don’t care until they get caught doing something wrong, then what’s to say they won’t continue? It sounds, from what you and some of the others above say, that those are the concerns you had when living in China. The only action I can think of to try and safeguard–other than my own purchasing choices–is to keep on top of the FDA bans and urge them to impose harsher import restrictions. (check out Food & Water Watch to sign a petition on the issue)

By: Carolyn Jung

Carolyn Jung — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:37:38 +0000

As a Chinese-American woman, I find the recent incidents about tainted Chinese food products both sad and frightening. Sad, because I love going to my local Asian market to find jarred sauces, dried mushrooms, canned veggies and the like to prepare home-coooked Chinese dishes. I love having this array of products at my disposal. But I’m frightened because China is becoming a power-house in terms of food production. It has the largest growing organic industry. It exports the most potatoes of any country. The list goes on and on. So much of our food these days comes from China in one form or another. But the oversight and regulations don’t seem to be in place there. If China truly wants to be a giant player in the global agricultural and food industries, it had better make sure what it produces is safe. One more scary food incident, and I fear more and more people will turn away from any imported Chinese food products for good. Well, at least the food products that they can determine do indeed come from China. That would be sad for China, and for all of us who love good food, too.

By: Diana

Diana — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:25:00 +0000

White Rabbit Candy was also recalled in the Philippines a few years ago because of formalin.

Interestingly, I used to be a lot more careful about food shopping when I lived in the US. I almost always bought meat that was organic or free-range, and stayed away from anything containing high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated crap. I did this less so in China. NOT because I felt food in China was safer, but only because I knew I would drive myself crazy and probably starve if I held onto the same standards I had in the US. It’s almost impossible to buy organic meat, produce, and packaged products here. And almost everything packaged has MSG.

So I do the same things you did, which is to first buy foreign brands, which can be very costly. I would buy things like Skippy peanut butter, the same stuff I shunned a year ago. But really, I’ve bought more than my fair share of local stuff. And with things like produce and meat, it’s impossible to buy anything but local. Sigh.

By: Chou

Chou — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:52:05 +0000

Wow–I just tried White Rabbit for the first time two weeks ago! This is one of the difficulties with food; as it’s been said, eating is a sort of continual game of chance, and has been for thousands of years. However, it’s even more concerning that those who we have entrusted with food production occasionally fail us. I think your strategies are sound, and that at some point one must accept the risk inherent in our food systems while giving thanks for the progress that has been made.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:41:35 +0000

Oh, gosh. I’ll look for them the next time we’re out, but I’ll bet they’re on the shelves in Boston, too.

By: Kian

Kian — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:24:28 +0000

Cadbury recalled their products made in China yesterday. More global brand products are being affected. It is really rather unsettling.

FDA recalled the White Rabbit candies on Sep 26th. But they are still on Chinatown store shelves. Obviously there is something wrong with our enforcement system.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:10:17 +0000

Really thoughtful post. And gosh, this is so scary. I like the idea that the American gov’t would catch any and all tainted products, I’m just not sure that that’s reality of the situation.

Your shopping methods seem pretty sound to me. In the end, there’s probably (sadly) only so much you can do, aside from staying as informed as you can by reading the news.

I’d like to think that sticking to popular brands cuts down on your chances of getting some kind of bad food. (In theory, the more folks who eat something, the more likely that it will be reported if someone gets sick, etc.)

+Jessie
a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse

By: Joseph Yu

Joseph Yu — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:02:58 +0000

I live in Canada and if you have read the news recently from Canada, you’ll find that there was a tainted food incident on packaged deli meats processed in Canada. As of the latest count, 13 people have died of listeriosis, a food bourne bacterial infection. Countless more have been sick. The company that produced the tainted deli meat is a very large and respected corporation in Canada. That proves that no matter where the source of the food, (Western or Asian) there’s a chance of contamination. I now try to eat freshly sourced food (not canned or preserved) as much as possible. If I buy processed or canned goods I am very vigilant on where they came from. I avoid anything coming from China. Although here in Canada, its very hard to really determine the source of your food. We do get a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables from China. Also if a food product came originally from China but is packaged here locally, it will say made in canada.

Oh well, it’s just another thing to add to our stress level.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:43:34 +0000

Kian, your look at supermarket methodology is fascinating. Like many, I’ve been following the tainted-dairy stories out of China, but your inside-view shed new light on a serious subject. Great post!

By: Just Cook It

Just Cook It — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 07:40:29 +0000

Very interesting, and eye-opening, post. The disparity in even the simplest items is quite amazing.