Now dirty chopsticks picked up in China scare

[hogwyld]

Source: Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing factory recycled used chopsticks and sold up to 100,000 pairs a day without any form of disinfection, a newspaper said on Wednesday, the latest is a string of food and product safety scares.

Counterfeit, shoddy and dangerous products are widespread in China, whose exports have been rocked in recent months by a spate of safety scandals, ranging from pet food to medicine, tires, toothpaste and toys.

Officials raided the factory and seized about half a million pairs of recycled disposable bamboo chopsticks and a packaging machine, the Beijing News said.

The owner, identified only by his surname Wu, said he had sold the recycled chopsticks for 0.04 yuan a pair and made an average of about 1,000 yuan ($130) a day.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070822/hl_nm/china_safety_chopsticks_dc

---

Poisoning us all for about a penny of profit... We're all doomed.

[Lucinda]

1. Just saw a blip on the Yahoo FP that Survivor is going to China next

as long as they stay out of the urban areas they may have a chance...

Unreal...

[Skittles]

2. I hope they f***ing stay there

I detest that piece of shit show

[crim son]

3. Bite your tongue!

I never miss that show, even though it's become boring the past several seasons.

[sarcasmo]

15. I agree with skittles.

[hogwyld]

6. Maybe that will be the show's real twist...

No one will survive this one!

[NJCher]

9. Survivor....

Is the name of the game we're all playing as consumers these days. As long as these deplorable practices are allowed and bush fails to rev up the ranks of FDA inspectors, then we're all playing "Survivor."

Why can't they set up a massive inspection process and just tack the cost on to the shipment price of the goods? The record is bad enough that it's painfully obvious some measures have to be taken. This article itself says that it will be five years before China can implement an inspection system.

What's it going to take? The deaths of another 45,000 pets...or people?



Cher

[hogwyld]

13. Of course, as the article states

This will begin a tit for tat war. they're already saying that our soy beans are unsafe.

[CottonBear]

4. Ewwww! How could you not notice dirty, used chopsticks? n/t

[Occulus]

14. One word: bacteria. n/t

[progressoid]

5. Dirty Chopsticks....wasn't that punk band in the 80's?

[Deja Q]

7. I thought they were called 'Dirty Pillows'...

:hide:

[IronLionZion]

8. Chopsticks are the easiest things to wash

I try to go to asian restaurants that use good quality chopsticks.

[juajen]

10. I believe a hot, soapy wash is sufficient.

I have heard, and believe it's so, that wood will self disinfect. I'm not sure about bamboo. I remember the scare about wooden cutting boards and the word then was that it was much ado about nothing. Please correct if I'm wrong.

[Hekate]

11. An awful lot of disposable chopsticks are of some cheap,splintery, porous wood...

...which I would never use a second time, nor would I trust a washing to do the trick.

At home I have a package of chopsticks I bought a lifetime ago in Hawaii that have a nonporous finish on them. They need to be hand washed, but they are more than suitable for repeated uses.

This guy probably recycled them out of the trash -- how else would he have gotten them? -- and since they were made to be disposable in the first place, they probably are that cheap porous wood. Ew.

Would you trust that product not to be a carrier of the common cold, much less TB or hepatitis?

Hekate

[hogwyld]

12. In china, where profit is the new king

I don't think they particularly care about anything other than how much money they can make off of others. Damn the consequences.

[AllyCat]

16. China again. Figures.

You know, I went looking for toys for my 18 month old in our local, indy toystore. Nearly everything was made in China. I no longer trust ANYTHING for children made there. It's only a matter of time before the next recall happens. So I selected a toy that was made in Italy and had a printed label on the box that said "Fight Child Labor" and a guarantee that they do not use child labor in any part of their manufacturing processes.

I made sure to tell the shopkeeper why I did not buy the other toys and why I'd selected the one I purchased.

She agreed with me and said that it's a tough business stocking a toy store when everything is Chinese and I'm not the first person in our conservative town to say something to her about Chinese-made products. I mentioned that by talking to suppliers and stocking more of the kinds of toys that I had selected and mentioned a couple other brands she had that were European, she could start to make a difference.

There was a thing on the news the other day that said Barbie dolls cost 35 cents to make in China. And they market here for what, $22??? That's a nice profit even with the globe-polluting shipping. The reporter said it would cost 20 times that much to make it here. So, what, it would cost $5 to make here, raise the price a little bit and cut what the CEO makes in a handsome salary and stock options every year...what am I talking about. Cut CEO pay??? That's Unamerican!