Think twice before biting into a chocolate to [sic] loose yourself in its taste – you might actually be chewing a wee bit more then you bargained for.
“It seems to be seriously contaminated during the manufacturing process since the larvae of Plodia Interpun were found,” says Professor Ahn Young-chul at Eulji University.
Reports suggest that worms were found in some chocolates made in Korea as well. But the news about the ‘China Chocolates’ adds to the already-damaged “Made in China” brand.
An array of tainted Chinese products, including toxic toys, toxic toothpaste, inflammable clothes, poisoned pet food and contaminated medicine were discovered across the globe in recent months causing importers and consumers alike to question the quality of goods coming from China.
meh I hope my links have posted
#33 I agree to an extent of what your saying but Canada does not execute their heads of departments.
China has never nefariously tried to damage the west. Like any 2nd/3rd world country they have only been trying to make a buck where the opportunity exists. Chinas laws are either very very very lax, or VERY hard to enforce due to a multitude or reasons including lack of rules, regulations and incentives that western companies have. If anything its our own fault for letting OUR goods be produced there in the first place. We are to blame for treating the chinese like our black brothers of yesteryear with our ‘if its not in my back yard’ ethos.
This has NOTHING to do with communism vs capitalism, its about cost plain and simple. Its cheaper to make things in China and this is one of a million examples as to why.
Ok it was “live worms”, that means quailty packaging and delivery.
>>The headline ought to say: “Live Worms Found in
>>pirated Chinese Chocolates”
They may have been pirated, but they’re still Chinese. How is a foreign consumer to know if they’re bona fide or knockoffs? Seems like the safest strategy is to just avoid all things Chinese, unless and until they get that piracy shit a little more under control, and start inspecting the non-pirated items a little more closely.
#38 “They may have been pirated, but they’re still Chinese. How is a foreign consumer to know if they’re bona fide or knockoffs? ”
Should I bother?
If I want to export pirated goods I have to smuggle them out of China and I have to smuggle them into the destination country.
Did you know that the US cannot even control its borders? This is how drugs get into the US! Didn’t you know that?
Oh that’s different!
Bollocks!!!
I used to think that it was an urban myth that in the US irons have to have a warning “Do not attempt to Iron clothes while wearing them” not to mention “Caution Hot Coffee is Hot”… calls to 911 on how to cook a turkey…
but now I know…its all true.
Cheers
>>Did you know that the US cannot even control its borders?
>>This is how drugs get into the US!
That may be true, but we don’t allow the production of chocolates with worms in them, Rubber Ducky(R) watering cans with lead in the beaks, or most of the other stuff that China seemingly tolerates gladly. OK, so we may have some E. coli in the spinach, etc., but when that’s discovered, the solution is to come down hard on the people who are producing it.
Or are you saying that the solution to US problems is to “control” the “border” to exclude anything that was made in China?
>>How about defining what you think is Chinese communism?
http://tinyurl.com/33wtay
#42…What does that have to do with communism?
“China on Wednesday hailed the swift execution of the nation’s former drug safety chief as a warning to corrupt officials while detailing a web of graft that thrived for years without punishment.”
Good China is trying to get rid of corruption. Oh is it the death penalty?
Do you even know what communism is? Or even Maoism?
Maybe not.
Lets start there…take it a little bit slower….
In a nutshell…
Mao repressed any threat to him and his leadership. This meant educated people, or who had foreign connections or relatives were suspect as well. The cultural revolution with the red guard turned people against each other. Anyone not able to quote from Mao’s little red book was in a shit load of trouble.
That’s the repression part…
The communist part…
The government owns everything you don’t even own your own shit (which was true – that was used for farming). The government provides everything you will ever need.
What happened next.
Mao dies…
Deng Xiaoping takes over…he turns China around…its a BIG U turn. Basically for Chinese its like “Everything you know is wrong”. Deng Xiaoping makes a national address admitting “We were wrong”.
Today.
China is on the path of reform – but people who believe that the world was created in 7 days think China is taking too long to get its act together but meanwhile is getting ready to bomb the shit out of another country because the Iraq was a dud. I have seen the changes that have been made first hand. You have seen DICK!
No one forced anyone to invest in China or buy anything made in China. In fact companies are still falling over themselves to get here. When China is too expensive India is next in about 10 years.
If you want to discuss this more I suggest get you ass over here and get an informed view instead of the thinking you know it all like Peter Griffin.
Cheers
Seems I have trouble posting…
Cheers
OK I am not please ignore #46…
Cheers
What’s happening with China these days? Something fishy is going on around there.
Btw, the chocolates make a perfect fishing bait. LOL
I seems to me that China is having its own Upton Sinclair “The Jungle” period. I, for one, will be very, very wary of buying anything either food or high tech related from China for the near future, at least if I can.
#50 Ahh Ok I think I understand what this ‘visa’ is.
Her choice of words and some of the “lost in the culture” going on. I was off on my guess of when you visited by what you said about the restricted areas. She was referring to her residence and I explain it later. Its not a big thing.
But what is a big thing is how Chinese communicate!! It can drive you crazy!!
On thing in China is you MUST keep asking questions – never assume. Chinese communication is very INDIRECT. A Chinese person talking to someone will quite often talk all around the subject – especially if it is something which may be sensitive to that person.
The other person is expected to fill in the blanks as it were and there is the trouble if that someone is not Chinese!
A very good example which just happened to me. I have a business trip coming up. My wife asks the travel agent if we can travel directly from China to a particular city. The travel agent immediacy says no. My wife asks are there any airlines that fly there from China? Again the answer is no.
If my wife stopped there we would have found we didnt ask enough questions.
My wife now changed the date and asked the same question and the travel agent now said YES!
There is another famous story about one of the first foreigners to do business in China. He and his wife checked into a hotel and when they got to the room found there was no water running. He calls down to the front desk and manages to explain there is no water in the room. The front desk clerk acknowledges and says ok I understand.
So the man and wife wait in the room for someone to come fix the problem. After about an hour the man calls down to the front desk to about the water. The front desk clerk says yes we know.
So the man and wife waits a bit longer and still no one comes. So he gets an idea and calls again to the front desk and this time tells the clerk I have no water in my room BUT I want some so please send someone to fix it. In 5 minutes someone came to the room!
Never assume, ask all possible questions!
So back to this girl you were talking to. Everyone in China has a ID card and everyone has to have a residence somewhere. This is the ‘visa’ that girl was talking about – it is a residence book. In the past it was a big deal but now not at all.
My Wife who is from Qingdao has her residence from there. She is now in Shanghai so she now has a ‘temporary residence’ in Shanghai. No big thing, she goes to the police station every six months or so and they stamp a her residence book for every month. She is supposed to do it every month but no one cares too much about it. She could move her residency from Qingdao to Shanghai but that is just too much bother.
China DOES not have the computer police network that the US has. I used to joke with my wife about her having to get a non-criminal certificate from the police station to certain things like buy property. I told her why not just go to the police station and ask “Hey are you looking for me? I also told her that the US does not have any of that rubbish. Well when we came to the US to live in 2005 I found out that the US does indeed have this – it is a criminal background check!! She sure rubbed my nose in it for a long time after that.
Back to the residence book keep in mind there are 1.3 billion people in China and Shanghai has about 16 million people. Traditionally Chinese seldom moved from where they were born. What Chinese people have is what is called your residence file and your working file which must follow you if you move. This is what the girl was talking about.
Usually Chinese people just leave it where they were born with their family. In the past this was a very big thing and was strongly regulated to prevent people moving around too much. If there were no restrictions years ago Shanghai would be about 30 million people with shanty towns all over.
This has been relaxed over the years as expansion has stabilized. Now it is quite common for people from other areas to now find work in larger cities like Shanghai. There is nothing really stopping anyone from doing this any more. Most of our employees are all from somewhere else and come Chinese New Year they all take off to see their families.
Now about what she said about her family could not visit her might sound rather ominous but you needed to ask a few more questions.
It could be her family simply did not want to visit her as that is not the custom SHE would be expected to visit THEM.
Another is many people working for a company from out of town would live in the company dormitory. She may be doing that and of course her family could not visit her.
One thing that is certain there are no restrictions for travel within Mainland China. No one needs to have ‘Papers’ for travelling but you do need to take your ID card as you cannot check into a hotel with out it or fly, or by a bus ticket. Its like you drivers licence – if you don’t have that you are in trouble. 😉
Perhaps this cleared up some of the mystery of what the girl was talking about.
Cheers
I guess it could be worse…
You could find HALF a live worm in your chocolate.
Anyone for boycotting Chinese products?
I already do my best to do so… American workers have to eat, too – and they spend their lunch money in the U.S.
#52, 53 So where would you shop?
And more important, what would you buy?
Forget anything made by Apple for a start.
And computer hardware as well.
Intel has a large plant in Shanghai…
So does Sony…
Don’t buy a US made car…most of the parts are from China…
No synthetic leather clothes, shoes, bags, cars, sports equipment, upholstery and flooring…all of it comes from China (my industry btw)
There are a few high quality small plants in Italy and Europe – but they use Chinese materials but there are more in Iran and Turkey, there is a choice so don’t bomb them yet!. 😀
Most clothes are from China
Toys, even the leaded ones…
Plates, glasses, house wares…
Not buying Chinese will be easy – just don’t buy anything!
If you want to buy something made in the US… you can always buy a tank! Wait, Hummers have Chinese parts…maybe tanks too…so…damn just don’t buy anything and you should be ok…
Cheers
>>The communist part…The government owns everything
>>you don’t even own your own shit
You don’t even own your own life.
So, OK. Maybe I shouldn’t have said “communism”. Maybe I should have said “brutal totalitarian regime”.
Psst – T_H…
Sony’s high-end and pro AV stuff is made in Japan.
#41 MrMustard
>>That may be true, but we don’t allow the production of chocolates
with
>> worms in them
Please refer to the FDA DAL handbook link:
http://tinyurl.com/38o3v9
http://tinyurl.com/s4n6n
I think you’ll be surprised what we allow.
Uh-oh. Mattel recalls more leaden toys, and they’re BARBIES this time. ARGGHHH!
“Mattel is planning to announce Wednesday a recall of 775,000 toys that are believed to contain unsafe levels of lead paint. Two of the toys are designed for preschool-age children — one a musical instrument and the other a train toy marketed under the name “GeoTrax.” About 100,000 will be affected. The lion’s share of the recall — Mattel’s third this summer — will the core Barbie brand. Seven accessories associated with the dolls are set to be recalled, a total of 675,000.” (Wall St. Journal online, 9/4/07)
>>I think you’ll be surprised what we allow.
I’m glad to see you’re up on GMP regs, nightstar, but I didn’t see the part in the Defect Action Levels link where we allow lead in toys, E. coli in spinach, or worms in chocolate bon-bons.
Perhaps you could point it out?
Ya, I somehow sense there may be a slight diff between allowing 10 PPM of insect parts in ground black table pepper, f’rinstance, and 300,000 PPM of whole worms in choccies. 😉
#60
I don’t recall ever claiming we did Mustard.
We do however allow the import of many such items from China and other countries.
It’s easy to externalize the blame. Our lax regulations on imports make it easy to accept sub-standard goods.
Don’t get mad at China, write your congressman if you’re uncomfortable with “lead in toys, E. coli in spinach, or worms in chocolate bon-bons.”
After all who regulates what is available in your domestic market Mustard?
BTW for all you China bashers. If you’re going to boycott Chinese products I expect not to see any more posts from you in this forum as the computer you using is made of parts manufactured there. The server Dvorak is hosted on also is composed of these Chinese parts.
cya
Who’s a China-basher? Pointing out that they happen to take quality less seriously than other nationalities isn’t “bashing,” it’s factual observation. Very little inspection or oversight is necessary for goods from, say, Germany or Sweden. In fact, much of our lax importation policies have come about due to how unnecessary they had tended to become, before we started trading with what are, for purposes of product quality, 3rd World producers.
Now the greedheads in executive suites all over America are making money hand over fist from trade with China. And when they’re offered the choice of opting for a higher quality control standard on the goods they purchase, they turn thumbs down, because QA interferes with windfall profits. So their good friends in the Bush Admin look the other way while tainted and dangerous goods are brought in by their pals. We get $49 universal disc players and $3/lb catfish and they get private islands. Everyone’s happy, no?
Yes, the blame for these things being sold to unsuspecting American consumers lies with Big Bidniss and their handmaidens in the White House – incidentally, something that will continue uninterrupted should Hillary win – but left to their own devices, China has not been an exporter of consumer goods long enough to grasp on their own the importance of quality product. Taiwan and the Philippines have learned well, Korea is starting to learn, but China, being the newest, turns out some of the worst crap currently.
Low QA means lower prices to American consumers, which in turn make Americans’ dollars go farther, thereby reducing the pressure on American businesses to share their rivers of money with the working people of this country.
Last year, a 32″ TV mighta cost you $2000. But you make only $40,000 a year, so that’s a bit steep. Not to worry. While the company you work for posted record profits – and record executive salaries – you didn’t even get a COLA, but yesterday you could go to Fry’s and get a 32″ TV for $400. Now you’re less willing to bitch about not getting that raise or to go elsewhere.
And that’s the way it was planned. What executive America didn’t plan on, blinded by their greed, was the nonexistent QA they didn’t want to pay for out of their already obscene profits coming back to bite them on the ass. So they want to pass the buck and say “Yeah, those Chinese need to get their act together.” But the Chinese will gladly make higher quality product – they do it all the time for companies like Nikon and Matsushita – who pay more for the extra QA. But if American companies wind up being forced to foot the bill, it surely ain’t coming out of the profits they’ve gotten used to, so prices will go up. And then the American worker will once again notice that he’s not getting Jack Shit, while those on top keep buying private jets and $30M Connecticut mansions.
Then who are they gonna pass the buck to? That’s the $64,000 Question.
#55 Phillep – Ahh someone who is educated and knows what communism is, and perhaps has studied it. Communism by its nature does not allow progress, period! This is one of the foundation stones – the worker who continues his hand crafts.
This is why China (Russia too) had to abandon it. I find it funny and frustrating when people argue about something to which they have no f*cking clue E.G. communism, China, Iran, and even their own country the US.
I have always liked how The Firesign Theatre summed American ignorance about their own country “Ben Franklin the only president of the United States who was never president of the United States.”
If you think about my list of Chinese made goods imported into the US the volume is Shock and Awe. Hundreds of thousands of containers, about 75% of anything Americans will buy from a country that could hardly screw to pieces of metal together 20 years ago. (for that volume of goods it is perhaps only 0.001% that has been in the news as shit)
There is that Taiwan issue. Yes, there are the old farts ON BOTH SIDES who are anal about it. China has been wanting to normalise relations with Taiwan for years aside from the HK style reintegration but simply in postal, transportation (Direct flights), and trade links. Taiwan has been the one to refuse for their reasons. Until recently to get to and from Taiwan you would have to fly to HK first.
I will say it again the change that China has done on the scale it has is nothing short of astounding. And YES, there is still a lot of shit needing to be done – but if the next 20 years are anything like the last…
Cheers
#57 Pssst, Sure about that? 😉
I forgot to add 3 and 5 series BMWs are made in China.
Cheers
Mr Mustard “That may be true, but we don’t allow the production of chocolates with worms in them”
Neither does China.
China does not allow the production of Meth
Cheers
#64 “Pointing out that they happen to take quality less seriously than other nationalities isn’t “bashing,” it’s factual observation.”
Yes…you are correct that more inspection is required of Chinese goods than say German…but the reasons are not exactly that Chinese don’t care.
Chinese culture is not American culture. It simply does not occur to them something is wrong. To Chinese all they know is what they are told to do – the big picture doesn’t mean anything to them. It never occurs to Chinese what are the results of what they are doing.. Americans workers on the other hand are fully aware of the results of what they are doing as it has been explained and understood. Without giving offence Chinese workers are like 8 year old children – you can tell them to do something but don’t expect them to understand the big picture.
In time this will change. Its like telling a pig lying in the mud to be ashamed at how dirty he is. Show the pig how nice it is to be clean…then you will get somewhere.
Remember…
20 years ago China could hardly screw two pieces of metal together.
Trust me as someone who has been on the factory floor with Chinese workers for years when you actually get the penny to drop in their head that what they are doing is wrong they do follow it. Getting that penny to drop is the f*cking hard part!! *LOL*
A few years back I was the GM of a new factory which was just set up in China by a US company. I had the CEO on a conference call who had never been to China tell me “All you need to is just tell these workers they work for an American company now and they must follow the rules…” Sigh….I was working for the ‘pointy haired boss’ Gaaa!
Cheers
#55 “China has long wanted to conquer Japan, along with Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and India. I don’t know what the Australian population is doing, but they are withen reach of China’s Navy. Siberia? China has historically conquered civilised lands”
That was Ghengis Khan…he was Mongolian by the way not Chinese. He was the empire builder. To say that China is still this way is like saying the Greeks are too. China historically spent most of its time fighting within its own borders.
Regarding Vietnam, North Korea and so on Mao wanted buffer countries surrounding China like Hitler wanting Poland as a buffer to Russia. Mao is gone…
It was Japan who invaded China in recent times…not the other way around.
China is not imperialistic – it doesn’t need to be. Think about this, If China was do you think for one minute that idiot in North Korea would still be around? That idiot pisses China off to no end, there are constant cross border issues from North Koreans. China has the opportunity right now to march right in to North Korea and the world would applaud it!! But they don’t
Cheers
Okay TIHZ_HO, since you obviously work for the Chinese government and/or have been brainwashed by them maybe you can answer some questions.
In what way is trading with China a good thing for the U.S. or any other country for that matter? The U.S. just needs to bite the bullet and say anything made by or containing parts from a country that either doesn’t have adequate labor laws or doesn’t enforce them will not be imported period. Additionally, do like the Japanese do and inspect the shit out of everything coming into the country and pay for it by taxing imports. You see while currently the U.S. couldn’t handle the manufacturing workload, in the long run the benefits far outweigh any costs.
Why all the military spending? I mean excuse me for being a little worried here, but you generally don’t buy a tennis racket unless your planning on playing a little tennis? The reason China doesn’t attack Japan or anyone else is because despite their numbers their military is still lacking technology, and regardless of who would win, a war with the U.S. would be a little too costly. If China thought for a second they could get away with a little imperialism, you are a bit naive to think that they wouldn’t. China currently has more than enough soldiers and military hardware to provide an ample defense, so once again, why all the spending unless of course they have more than an ample defense in mind?