One hopes that the answer is no. Based
upon my dealings over the decades with same (I live in the SF/Bay
Area) I am not so sure of an answer (food safety, sanitation, and
wholesomeness are not watch words in the chinese food establishments
I have associated with, and I speak with some authority since I
graduated from cooking school and have the relevant safety/sani
certificate). Is it:
- the ends justify the means (i.e. telling a lie)
- influence of that *sshole Mao, that the West/Christianity/Free-Market is inherently evil, and anything you do to them is OK
- Racial prejudice specifically against Whites
- Xenophobia (Google it, and, no, I am not referring to the “Warrior Princess”)
- Provincialism (Google it)
- something endemic to Han culture that has been stewing for centuries
- simple arrogance that they can do no wrong
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, I
present my case.
Melamine
is a deadly poison that causes renal failure in anyone (human or pet)
that ingests it. Several factories (which inclines one to believe
that it was not just one rogue factory owner but a coordinated effort
by the evil Chinese Communist Party) had crappy, poor quality wheat
gluten that did not have enough protein to qualify it for export. So,
these a**holes added melamine which they knew would kick up the
protein content in tests to make it OK for export as pet food. The
result was thousands of dead, beloved American
pets and a huge recall of pet food by all companies using this cheap,
Chinese crap.
Make
a carbon copy (you young 'uns who have no idea what this is, Google
it), but substitute “baby formula” for “pet food”.
Most
of the shrimp farmed in Communist China is cultivated in contaminated
water from industrial run-off. Worse, they add huge amounts of
antibiotics and drugs that are totally illegal. See, they know that
seafood imported into the US from China is not tested, so the odds of
being caught are nil. Personally, I refuse to eat shrimp from China.
For example, in a sushi restaurant, I always ask where the shrimp
came from. If they cannot supply a definitive answer (because the
Japanese employees know it is from China and therefore carries a
safety stigma but is a fraction of the cost of shrimp from anywhere
else), I will not order the shrimp, if I stay for a meal at all.
Han
Chinese gangsters were harvesting and processing rats, then selling
them to markets, restaurants, and open air markets as lamb. True,
this has nothing to do with exports to the US. However, to elucidate
the differences in cultural culinary practices, I would like to draw
a parallel to US gangsters, specifically Sicilian Mafia in NY and
surrounds (you young 'uns who have no idea who they are, Google it).
These folks had a monopoly on olive oil imported from Italy (in fact,
today's renaissance of extra virgin olive oil can be traced to their
efforts, and yes, this means that they actually had a legitimate
business arm). Perhaps they might dilute the good Italian stuff with
cheap American veg oils to decrease costs (which was at least
partially ensconced in later FDA regs) yet sell at full price.
However, at no time did they ever adulterate their product with
unsafe or unwholesome ingredients. The same cannot be said of Han
Chinese gangs.
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