Food safety in Australia - China imports
New M&M's chocolate blocks, Oreo Thins - Did you know these are imported to Australia from China?
This is in no way a racist post. Food safety is a serious topic, and one that doesn't get much of a mention in developed countries due to the strong trust most people have in the regulations that are in place to protect us from outright harmful foods.
A large proportion of products we buy are made in China. No problem, market forces mean this is the way it goes. But what about food?
If you look at where most chocolates on your local Woolies or Coles shelves come from, you will see that they are at least made in Australia from imported ingredients. This is slowly beginning to change, with major brands such as MARS and Oreo's (well Oreos have been doing this for a long time) beginning to import some of their range from China.
The example of M&M's is a particularly interesting example as it is a dairy based product. There is a huge market for imported dairy in China due to safety concerns the locals have about local powdered milks - infant formula in particular. For this reason there are thriving small and large businesses that buy up as much powdered infant formula as they can from countries such as Australia, Sweden etc. and send it back to China at a profit. Is Chinese local dairy produce/powder being used in the manufacture of M&Ms chocolate blocks that is exported to Australia? What standards does it conform to?
It is interesting to note that the traditional M&M's are still made in Australia.
To get an idea of the food safety situation in China, a recent YouTube vlog by a long-time China vlogger SerpentZA gives a quick overview of the issue:
This post is aimed at raising awareness that this shift is occurring in foods being sold in major Australian retail outlets. It is likely that if sales of these products are strong despite their origin, the large companies will increase the range of products that are manufactured in China and sold in Australia.
If this concerns you - vote with your feet and don't buy these products.
Cheers and decentralise
strapped
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Great post, your'e like a wandering reporter. will follow.....
Greatly appreciated. Awesome to hear from someone so far away. New content on the way
Looking forward. You come off as very professional. Have fun.
I've lived in China for 3 years. It's hard not to worry about food safety with so many fakes on the market. They even have fake eggs!!! Fortunately, I've only gotten sick a couple times. Once from eating octopus that wasn't cooked properly.
Otherwise, money is king in this country. If money is the top priority, safety suffers.
Thanks for the info eitsky, great to get input from someone with first-hand perspective
I love M&M's, and definitely concern to all food safety.
This post deserve my vote. I followed all TEAM AUSTRALIA team members.
Please follow me @Yehey
Not surer if you have the same issue in Australia as in New Zealand where a lot of big company's ways of cutting costs are to manufacture over in China and bring the products back.
The quality is just not the same, but the cost to consumers is the same, one was Pumpkin patch and that ended up going bankrupt.
The same could be said about Ripcurl and Billabong just not the same any more when produced in NZ and Aussie.
Products being imported from China is a common occurrence in most countries around the globe. When it comes to food, a lot of care needs to be taken by importers and consumers. Its like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get!