Fri, Sep 26, 2008 page5

• Food scandal highlights political divide in China

  FOOD CHOICE The age-old practice of separating food supply for the rulers and the public is raising discontent as consumers grapple with tainted food

  • AP
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  While China grapples with its latest tainted food crisis, the political elite are served the choicest, safest delicacies. They get hormone-free beef from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, organic tea from the foothills of Tibet and rice watered by melted mountain snow.

  And it’s all supplied by a special government outfit that provides all-organic goods from farms working under the strictest guidelines.

  That secure food supply stands in stark contrast to the frustrations of ordinary citizens who have faced recurring food scandals — vegetables with harmful pesticide residue, fish tainted with a cancer-causing chemical, eggs colored with industrial dye, fake liquor causing blindness or death, holiday pastries with bacteria-laden filling.

  Now that the country’s most reputable dairies have been found selling baby formula and other milk products tainted with an industrial chemical that can cause kidney stones and kidney failure, many Chinese don’t know what to buy. Tens of thousands of children have been sickened and four babies have died.

  Knowing that their leaders do not face these problems has made some people angry.

  “Food safety is a high priority for children and families of government officials, so are normal citizens less entitled to safe food?” asked Zhong Lixun, feeding her seven-month-old grandson baby formula after he got checked for kidney stones at Beijing Children’s Hospital.

  The State Council Central Government Offices Special Food Supply Center was specifically designed to avoid the problems troubling the general population.

  “We all know that average production facilities use large quantities of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Antibiotics and hormones are commonly used in raising livestock and poultry. Farmed aquatic products are contaminated by various kinds of water pollution,” center director Zhu Yonglan said in a speech earlier this year.

  “It goes without saying that these are harmful when consumed by humans,” Zhu told executives at supplier Shandong Ke’er Biological Medical Technology Development Co, which posted it on its Web site.

  Zhu’s speech has been widely circulated by Chinese Internet users on blogs and forums in recent days, with many expressing outrage that top government officials have a separate — and safer — food supply than the public.

  The special food center enforces strict standards on suppliers like Shandong Ke’er, which makes health supplements designed to boost immunity and energy. Foods must be organic, not genetically modified and meet international food standards, said a manager in the center’s product department, who only gave her surname, Zhang.

  The reason: its A-list clientele of government officials and retirees of vice minister rank or higher.

  It’s not unusual for China’s leadership to have a special food supply; the practice stretches back thousands of years to farms providing ingredients for lavish imperial meals or the greasy, spicy dishes favored by former leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東).

  The former Soviet Union’s ruling classes also ate food that was unavailable to the masses. In North Korea, where withering famines have seen tens of thousands starve over the past 13 years, leader Kim Jong-il is a gourmet known for his love of lobster, shark’s fin soup and sushi.

  Set up in 2004, China’s Special Food Supply Center is almost as secretive as its high-end clientele, whose precise number is unclear, but includes hundreds of top political leaders, their families and retired cadres. Much of the information on its Web site was removed after media inquiries and interview requests this week.

  Goods deemed to meet the highest standards are stamped with the label “Nation A,” which stands for “top end, irreplaceable, the best,” the Web site says.

  Those products are for senior politicians or government offices and not released to the general consumer market, a customer service agent surnamed Dong said.

  Since the latest tainted food scandal broke earlier this month, Chinese looking for reassurance have turned to one company not named in any recalls — Sanyuan Foods Ltd.

  It proudly advertises that its milk is used for state banquets at the Great Hall of the People. And despite its higher price, sales have tripled in Beijing, while demand has outstripped supply in at least one province.
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