Beautiful poisons lurk under shine of Chinese food industry

By Gu Dening

Global Times, May 11, 2011

But it is often the case that the new flavor is a result of using additives that are also detrimental to people's health. Chemical additives that make meat tender, soup more delicious and dessert more refreshing are indispensable to restaurants. And sadly, these dishes are often the favorite choice of diners.

It is our choices that are powering those vicious food producers. If no one wants to buy dark-color rice, it might be just the natural next step for greedy producers to lace it with heavy metals to make it look whiter.

Good-looking foods always turn out to be stomach-turning in China and their ugly but natural counterparts, according to some research, is probably the better choice.

So where does the weird selection bias come from? Maybe it's just the natural quest for beauty, but I believe it was caused by the poor advice of some nutrition "experts."

If those so-called authorities, accompanied by quacks, were not spreading their pseudoscientific ideas via the media, people would be unlikely to be misled in this way.

We have to rely on the power of relevant laws to ensure the real safety of food in this country, bringing its original and basic function back into it while banning restaurants and food producers from luring customers with deadly beauty. The reason most

Westerners are alert over what they eat is simply because they believe appearance should always give way to quality.

Moreover, governments should live up to their obligations on supervising the food market and those profit-driven businessmen who have lost a sense of morality must be cracked down on immediately.

Meanwhile, relevant departments should regularly release authorized information, guiding the people and keeping them away from possible danger, just as their Western counterparts do on a regular basis.

The author is a media commentator. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn