Dealers admit to spraying formaldehyde on cabbages
Source: Xinhua |
May 8, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
REPORTS of Chinese cabbages tainted with formaldehyde in east China's Shandong Province, the country's largest vegetable supplier, have exposed clandestine market practices and triggered a new wave of food safety concerns.
Over the weekend, there were reports that vegetable dealers in Qingzhou had been seen spraying a formaldehyde solution on Chinese cabbages to keep the produce fresh during long journeys to market.
In visits to croplands and wholesale centers, Xinhua news agency reporters found that using a formaldehyde solution has been a popular, unspoken method of keeping vegetables fresh for at least three years and was not limited to Qingzhou.
Qingzhou is a leading Chinese cabbage production base, and vegetables grown there are mainly sold to areas in northern China and Shandong's neighboring provinces.
Many local farmers turn a blind eye to dealers treating the cabbages with formaldehyde.
"It's a common practice to keep the cabbages fresh," says Yin Lihua, a farmer in Qingzhou's Dongxia township. "Otherwise, the vegetables stacked tightly in their trucks would rot in two to three days."
China's wholesale vegetable dealers are not required to use refrigerated trucks for produce, and few can afford them.
Yin expects to make a lot of money from his 1,300 square meters of land that promises to yield at least 15,000 kilograms of cabbages.
"Cabbages sell well this year, about 1.4 yuan (22 US cents) per kilo," he says. Last year, the sale price was just 0.1 yuan per kilo.
Yesterday morning, trucks were lined up near Yin's greenhouse, waiting to take the cabbages to faraway cities for sale. Most of the trucks had license plates from Beijing, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia.
Meanwhile, police in Qingzhou are investigating.
Zhao Mingli, a dealer from the northeastern Heilongjiang Province, was caught by police while spraying the chemical solution.
Zhao told them he used the spray to keep the cabbages in good condition during a 10-hour journey to Langfang, a city on the Hebei-Beijing border.
"Vegetable dealers in Langfang openly demand formaldehyde-preserved cabbages because they sell more easily. 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."
Spring and summer
Zhao said 2.5 liters of solution costs only 7 yuan and can keep 20 tons of vegetables fresh.
The formaldehyde solution is used only on cabbages harvested in spring and summer. In winter, temperatures are low enough to keep vegetables fresh.
Zhao was one of dozens of vegetable dealers apprehended by police in Dongxia township.
They admitted having sold formaldehyde-tainted vegetables to many provinces, and many said they ate the tainted cabbages themselves. "You just do away with the first layer of leaves, cut the root and rinse well," Zhao said.
The local government in Dongxia township has launched a vegetable safety overhaul involving 46 agricultural production bases, 80 dealers and 400 cabbage farmers.
It has also put up posters to warn people about the risks of formaldehyde.
"We have told dealers to use refrigerated trucks for storage," said Liu Shengtian, deputy chief of Qingzhou's agricultural bureau.
Formaldehyde, used as a disinfectant and embalming fluid, was declared a known human carcinogen by the US National Toxicology Program last year. It is also a skin, eye and respiratory irritant.
In 2008, China banned it as an illegal food additive.
The chemical is also said to have been used to soak dried seafood to make it appear more fresh and plump.
It is 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.
Over the weekend, there were reports that vegetable dealers in Qingzhou had been seen spraying a formaldehyde solution on Chinese cabbages to keep the produce fresh during long journeys to market.
In visits to croplands and wholesale centers, Xinhua news agency reporters found that using a formaldehyde solution has been a popular, unspoken method of keeping vegetables fresh for at least three years and was not limited to Qingzhou.
Qingzhou is a leading Chinese cabbage production base, and vegetables grown there are mainly sold to areas in northern China and Shandong's neighboring provinces.
Many local farmers turn a blind eye to dealers treating the cabbages with formaldehyde.
"It's a common practice to keep the cabbages fresh," says Yin Lihua, a farmer in Qingzhou's Dongxia township. "Otherwise, the vegetables stacked tightly in their trucks would rot in two to three days."
China's wholesale vegetable dealers are not required to use refrigerated trucks for produce, and few can afford them.
Yin expects to make a lot of money from his 1,300 square meters of land that promises to yield at least 15,000 kilograms of cabbages.
"Cabbages sell well this year, about 1.4 yuan (22 US cents) per kilo," he says. Last year, the sale price was just 0.1 yuan per kilo.
Yesterday morning, trucks were lined up near Yin's greenhouse, waiting to take the cabbages to faraway cities for sale. Most of the trucks had license plates from Beijing, Henan, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia.
Meanwhile, police in Qingzhou are investigating.
Zhao Mingli, a dealer from the northeastern Heilongjiang Province, was caught by police while spraying the chemical solution.
Zhao told them he used the spray to keep the cabbages in good condition during a 10-hour journey to Langfang, a city on the Hebei-Beijing border.
"Vegetable dealers in Langfang openly demand formaldehyde-preserved cabbages because they sell more easily. 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."
Spring and summer
Zhao said 2.5 liters of solution costs only 7 yuan and can keep 20 tons of vegetables fresh.
The formaldehyde solution is used only on cabbages harvested in spring and summer. In winter, temperatures are low enough to keep vegetables fresh.
Zhao was one of dozens of vegetable dealers apprehended by police in Dongxia township.
They admitted having sold formaldehyde-tainted vegetables to many provinces, and many said they ate the tainted cabbages themselves. "You just do away with the first layer of leaves, cut the root and rinse well," Zhao said.
The local government in Dongxia township has launched a vegetable safety overhaul involving 46 agricultural production bases, 80 dealers and 400 cabbage farmers.
It has also put up posters to warn people about the risks of formaldehyde.
"We have told dealers to use refrigerated trucks for storage," said Liu Shengtian, deputy chief of Qingzhou's agricultural bureau.
Formaldehyde, used as a disinfectant and embalming fluid, was declared a known human carcinogen by the US National Toxicology Program last year. It is also a skin, eye and respiratory irritant.
In 2008, China banned it as an illegal food additive.
The chemical is also said to have been used to soak dried seafood to make it appear more fresh and plump.
It is 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.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
