Frozen berries hepatitis A scare: Pollution poses challenges to Chinese food safety practices

Hepatitis A cases in Australia linked to frozen berries will prompt a local review of Chinese safety practices, but endemic environmental problems will continue to provide a significant challenge, experts say.

The suspect berries were packaged at a factory in the large coastal province of Shandong, a major manufacturing hub for China's growing exports.

The region is plagued by environmental problems, with high levels of air and water pollution, as well as water scarcity.

News Corp's China correspondent, Scott Murdoch, said Shandong Province was long recognised as the most polluted in China.

"I've got to say, being on the ground, you can really start to see it firsthand," he said.

"Around the area, and then right across the province, is quite a high number of manufacturing, quite a lot of industrial companies, and also there are chemical producing firms as well.

"So I think when you put all of those three into a combination, pollution here is probably, has been, and is considered the worst in China."

He also said food safety was a major concern in China.

"Everyone we spoke to said if they could afford it, they'd buy imported food," he said.

"They think it's better quality, but sometimes they just don't have the means to do that."

It is not the first time exported food from the region has been found to be contaminated.

In 2002, spinach sent to Japan was compromised by chemical residues.

Water scarcity, corruption pose health risks

Dr Wei Li from the University of Sydney used to live in Shandong, and formerly worked with the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection.

"Pollution is a general issue for major provinces in China, and in Shandong, people are very concerned about food safety," she said.

"But I think what's more of a concern for the locals is the scarcity of water.

"There's a lot of obstruction of ground water in Shandong Province, mainly because of the large amount of water they require to produce foods."

Professor Zhang-Yue Zhou, from James Cook University, has specialised in food production in China.

He said there were different standards in China for food exports and domestic food, and many locals were even more vulnerable to health risks.

"Because of the corruption, if people don't produce foods of a high quality, they can bribe the inspection officers and get away with it," he said.

"Some people are just so greedy or want to get rich, so they don't care about producing foods of unacceptable safety or quality standards."

Source:  ABC : the World Today  Sarah Sedghi   21st February, 2015