Popular Beijing spots for foreigners, such as Sanlitun and university areas, will be targeted by police in a fresh drive against visitors who commit crimes, outstay their visas or gain illegal employment, authorities said on Monday.

For some, it was a sign that China was after “them”, a feeling that certainly has resonated in the journo community following the Melissa Chen affair, but after 10 years in China and a memory of 3-4 formal visa check campaigns, I am pretty confident this will turn out to be a non-event for most.

Where this announcement is tangentially interesting to me though is that after going through the process of re-upping my visa several months back, it became to clear to me that CHina had taken stps forward towards integrating all the systems which manage foreigners.  The subject of an interesting article last month

In short, the computers are now syncing.  A fact proven by the fact that when I was processing my residential permit at the local PSB my immigration picture flashed on the screen.  indicating that not only does immigration know your entry/ exit details, but also has access to your work permit, residential permit, and all the data required of each department (mobile phone, address, etc).

So, in a sense, with all this information it is theoretically possible that this 100 day campaign is nothing but a test of their abilities to take the database and extract those who are overstaying, checking on a few tourists who are in the wrong place (like in an English School), those who are standing on the street corners of Sanlitun, or going to language schools to see who is actually attending classes.

Which is to say that while the timing could have certainly been better, I do not see any reason for anyone to panic or to be offended, if asked for your credentials.  It is a small, perhaps slightly inconvenient, request and given how easy China has made it for many to get in, it should come no surprise that campaigns like this may need to take place.

It is a list that has changed over time, but in looking back, I have done well to stick to it pretty well:

1) Domestic Dairy and Soy Milk product – I wasn’t worried about melamine, I was worried about hormones/ antibiotics use.  This is one of those things that I have been looking at for a while. What I have found interesting through this crisis in confidence is that no one is looking at soy milk.  It is not all that different in process if you remove the obvious difference between a cow and soybean.  Both can be watered down, both can be thickened, both are really a collection of a million units into one….

2) Fish/ Seafood – This is perhaps the easiest to avoid as much of the (higher) quality fish and seafood in China is going to be imported at this point.  Globally there are a number of issues related to quality of fish, but in China my concern is rooted in antibiotics that the fish are ingesting to fight disease in the pond (largely a result of overfeeding and poor water conditions). That being said, chemical issues certainly exist as fish who survive massive die offs are still sold to market, and the Bohai Bay (home to oil spills and a large chemical base) has a lot of fish farms.

4) Domestic Pork/ beef -  Initially this is a reaction from my study of hte issues that the US faces with meat, but it is a reaction that has only grown more solidified as reports of pork contamination have played out in the media over the years.  Shooting pigs with growth hormones, use of antibiotics, and even injecting water to increase the weight, are reason enough for me to do what I can to avoid pork/ beef in restaurants.  When shopping for myself, I buy Australian beef.  It’s grass fed, and that is about as good as it is going to get.

5) Instant noodles – I once worked on a project for a large starch firm, and through this project I learned a lot about starchy foods, and how companies can mess with them.  Like Aluminum, there are many different grades of starches, and through the process of “reformulation” many firms will find the right “balance”.  which leaves a lot of room for the adulteration of product with various (industrial) chemical additives.

6) Processed meats – This pictorial (h/t CSR Asia) should be enough.

7) Shit on a stick – it is everywhere in China.  Local groceries, outside stalls, etc.. and it comes in many varieties… but let’s be clear about what that stuff really is (even if it looks like a hot dog, or a chicken foot, or a whoKNOWSwhat)… it is shit on a stick and it should not be eaten.  I specifically remember on instance several years back of losing all feeling on my tongue for 2 days from a single skewer of grilled mantou.  Perhaps it was a chemical burn, or perhaps it was the amount of MSG.  I dunno, and I don’t care

Powder based drinks – Sorry folks, but the 6 kuai bubble tea that has provided comfort on the walk is out too.  For me,  I opted out of bubble teas (and anything like it) once I learned how they were made.  White powder (sucrose/ fructose) + brown powder (tea/ flavor) + “tapioca” balls, and it is a decision I am happy with following news of industrial chemicals being used in Taiwan and a Shanghai Daily investigation into the industry.  Seriously, it’s all chemicals, and none of them are good for you… before the cutting of quality occurs.

9) Sauces – Soy sauce, fish sauce, chili sauce.. in a bottle we have largely cut out opting either for imported labels or simply making our own sauces. it is not necessarily due to the reports of boiled hair turning into soy sauce, or the reports on vinegar, or even the industrial complex that processes second hand oils… I was more concerned with the stabilizers and emulsifiers that are used in the process.  Chemicals that have many grades, and are often the first place a firm on the financial / moral ledge will make changes.  Not to mention the amount of salt and sugar that these sauces have, which is perhaps the global issue with any bottled sauce.

10) Anything that will make a government official lean over and say “this will keep you up all night long”.  Toad ovaries, deer penis, etc.  It has nothing to do with food adultery on any level, it is just something I will do just fine without.  Been there, done that, got the tshirt.

Feel free to add more in the comments section.

Speak to anyone who had a child while they were in China, and one of the first issues that comes up is food safety. Beyond air pollution, there is no topic that (in general) I have more discussions about… and more often than not I am being asked what I eat and where do I get it from.

It has become such a concern that many (I speak with) are considering leaving China, and the recent Xinhua aritcle detailing the fact that cabbage in China is laced with formaldehyde is certainly not going to help matters one bit.

Zhao says he uses the chemical to keep the cabbage in good condition during a 10-hour journey to Langfang, a small city on the Hebei-Beijing border. “Vegetable dealers in Langfang openly demand formaldehyde-preserved cabbages because they sell more easily.”

He also says the practice is not a new one. “I just did what everyone else was doing for three or four years. Vegetable dealers in other parts of Shandong and Hebei do the same.”

A practice which is technically not illegal!

It is still unclear how the toxin-using dealers should be penalized, as no such conditions exist in relevant laws and regulations, said Liu.

China’s law on farm produce safety stipulates that the use of preservatives should “conform to relevant technical standards of the state,” but fails to define what preservatives, or how much, are acceptable.

Now, I am not sure how the application of formaldehyde will impact the consumer, whether or not it can be washed off or if one just needs to peel the top layer off (I have an email into someone who knows), but let’s be clear about something… this is not the worst of it, nor is it the only problem.

What is the problem? In my mind there are two primary factors that go beyond stupidity, greed, and outright evil.

The first is that the policy level, primarily at the NRDC where pricing of commodities (including food crops) is what gives them power. Like their ability to set energy pricing, the NRDC has the ability to pervert the natural laws of the market and force everyone in the chain to cut corners. That, in setting a price that protects the consumer from inflation, the policy will almost always result in cutting corners. Match that to the second big policy problem that exists, which is a blind campaign to promote security of or consumption of a good (like milk) where the conditions on the ground simply are not aligned. Farmers are forced to game the system through various chemicals, food quality standards are reduced, and once again the consumers are at risk.

Second to that in terms of important is the supply chain of food in China, and more specifically the fragmented nature of agriculture in China. the average farmer (legally) tends just over a MU of land. 660 square meters. Or what some in the states would consider their hobby plot. And with such a small parcel of land available to them, managing quality is absolutely impossible. They are unable to afford high quality inputs, their farm is not large enough for equipment, to max out their yields pesticides/ NPK/ herbicides are thrown on at 3x the rate needed. Match that to a supply chain that is equally fragmented, and is really a matter of consolidation, and what you have is a massive amount of adultery and waste in the system. A system which eventually finds exits in wet markets (small sellers), local grocery stores, and depending on the channel the large chain stores. high quality sources have historically been exported to the likes of Whole foods, but that is a separate post.

Which leads to the “how”.

How is it that goods laced with formaldehyde are making it to market? Simple, they have to. Keeping in mind the fact that China is fighting massive inflation right now, and that there are probably fewer industries for room to “look away”, the good make their way through consolidators, distribution channels, and testing centers without anyone raising a flag. It is in part because there is no third party system in China, and it is in part also due to the face that the media know something for three years without saying anything, but the net result is that people are getting sick. 300,000 children getting kidney stones. Shanghai’s stomach cancer rates shooting off the charts.

which leads me to the “what do I do”

simple. I find trusted sources. I spend time speaking with experts, visiting farms, and following supply chains to see who has the best quality (safest) products I can purchase for myself (and my family). Greenpeace’s new iPhone app helps with this, but also knowing who 5 star restaurants and hotels are buying from helps.

Which is where is starts, and why I am seeing massive spending by the local Chinese as they look for USDA Organic labels for baby food, are ordering vegetables from Shanghai/ Beijing’s largest organic farms, and are importing baby creams, powders, and clothing by the suitcase. An industry that, as I mentioned in my previous post, is booming.

But, for some (Chinese and expat alike), that isn’t enough, and over the next 2-3 years I expect to see people I know move to safer ground because we all know that even with the reporting, the fact is that operationally this problem is going to require more than installing some equipment and issuing uniforms to unemployed students.