When China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) held a group review of Zhejiang Province in Beijing on March 6, Zhu Zhangjin, a NPC deputy from that region, displayed more than 300 samples of adulterated foods, intending to raise national awareness of the rampant use of hazardous additives in food. “Those who put hazardous additives in food with perfect knowledge of the harmful outcome are committing murders out of greed,” Zhu said.
Zhu pulled out a bag of peanuts, counted 10 pieces and threw them into a glass. After cold water was poured in, the water turned black within seconds. Zhu’s demonstration shocked meeting participants. Several NPC deputies who witnessed the event sighed aloud, saying that they had consumed the same kind of peanuts without knowing they were so adulterated.
Zhu said that the peanuts are called “healthy black-skin peanuts,” which are very popular in restaurants and hotels in China. They are prized and can sell for $25.40 per pound. But manufacturers often dye regular peanuts with coloring agents that contain harmful substances like heavy metals.
Zhu gave another exhibition: He took out several bags of “egg refining agent,” which he said cost $95 per pound.
When $6.40 worth of the agent was added to one ton of chicken feed, all eggs laid by the hens would have golden yolks, and the hens could lay eggs daily throughout the year. Consumers who believed they were paying a premium for high-quality eggs from free-range hens were deceived.
Zhu said he brought with him more than 300 adulterated foods to Beijing, intending to arouse public attention about the widespread use of poisonous food additives. He condemned the unscrupulous people who add toxic ingredients to food. “Compared with these guys, those unethical merchants who overcharged customers in the past can be virtually treated as ‘decent’ people.”
Xu Jiang, Dean of the China Academy of Art, was at the meeting. He said in a thoughtful tone that the ultimate cause of food tampering is the degradation of the human heart. He said many people today neither cherish integrity nor hold beliefs, and that is why they engage in shameful wrongdoings.
Read the original Chinese article.
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