America has had Trout Farms for years, but in China; they’re socially collectivized.
Tainted seafood risks China’s stake in U.S.
By Evan Osnos and David Greising
(Chicago)Tribune correspondents
Published July 1, 2007
TAOYU, China — This tiny village near the Great Wall is crowded with 20 household trout farms, which have cropped up in less then a decade to join China’s booming seafood trade.
Yet, in a tale mirrored across the industry, the local water supply could not keep pace and fish began dying from contamination, said fish farmer Liu Yanyan. She turned to traditional Chinese medicine to save her trout, she said, while some neighbors resorted to antibiotics and other chemicals.
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Public relations offensive
China is working to restore confidence. The Chinese Embassy in Washington last week released a flood of statistics designed to convey that, despite the latest incidents, “99 percent of Chinese food exports meet applicable standards” in more than 200 countries. Moreover, in noticeable contrast to its longtime practice of shrugging off foreign criticism, China has sought to demonstrate the scale of its response.
The head of the Chinese food and drug regulator has been sentenced to death for accepting bribes and failing to curb fake and unsafe medicines. And state media revealed last week that authorities have closed 180 foodmakers found to be mixing additives such as mineral oils, paraffin wax, industrial dyes, formaldehyde and the cancer-causing agent malachite green into the production of biscuits, melon seeds, bean curd, seafood, flour, candy and pickles, according to a report in the state-run
China Daily newspaper.
In the latest move, authorities banned the sale of drugs that overstate their effectiveness. Beijing targeted producers of 10 types of medicine, charging that they exaggerated their products’ effect on high blood pressure, diabetes and skin conditions, a Beijing newspaper reported Friday.
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This old-timer took a break from the sweltering sun of the Dust Bowl
during the bleakest period in the history of farming in America.
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His grandson has a much easier time
since he no longer needs to rely on a mule and a rusty plow.
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The combine has been a godsend for those who labor to feed the world.
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Loans, loans, loans!
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In China, despite the gradual nod to capitalism, farmers still have time for play.
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The biggest day of any year on the Chinese Trout farm
is the marriage of two land-owning families.
Villagers come to the farm for the festive day.
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Images: (football players) media.collegepublisher.com via wildcat.arizona.edu; (kicker) dnr.state.il.us;(goaltenders) fao.org; (married couple) Richard Nixon giving Tricia in marriage via answers.com–Dick is bss.sfsu.edu & Tricia is (bank) ptc.edu; (villagers) iranfisheries.net;(loan recipient) fs.fed.us; (combine) uwdiscoveryfarms.org; (combine farmer) bss.sfsu.edu; (tractor) lincoln.ac.uk; (tractor farmer) bss.sfsu.edu; (elderly farmer) archives.gov.on.ca;