Cardboard key to Beijing street food

[GuGu]

Credit to MSNBC.com

Report: Cardboard key to Beijing street food
State TV report on steamed buns highlights country’s food safety woes

BEIJING - Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and made tasty with pork flavoring, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said.

The report, aired late Wednesday on China Central Television, highlights the country’s problems with food safety despite government efforts to improve the situation.

Countless small, often illegally run operations exist across China and make money cutting corners by using inexpensive ingredients or unsavory substitutes. They are almost impossible to regulate.

China Central Television’s undercover investigation features the shirtless, shorts-clad maker of the buns, called baozi, explaining the contents of the product sold in Beijing’s sprawling Chaoyang district.

The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork.

‘It fools the average person’
The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground.

“What’s in the recipe?” the reporter asks. “Six to four,” the man says.

“You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?” asks the reporter. “Fatty meat,” the man replies.

The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.

Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda — a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap — then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on-screen. The reporter takes a bite.

“This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste,” he says. “Can other people taste the difference?”

“Most people can’t. It fools the average person,” the maker says. “I don’t eat them myself.”

The police eventually show up and shut down the operation.

__________________________________________________ _

I will not look at another bun the same way, ever again!

[Ken Cheng]

This is one reason that I'm in no mad rush to visit my ancestral homeland.

When, oh when, will Chinese society get its act together?

[GuGu]

This is one reason that I'm in no mad rush to visit my ancestral homeland.

When, oh when, will Chinese society get its act together?

I guess it's better than using dead dogs and cats off the streets. I mean who know what diseases those animals carry. At least cardboard is made from trees. I really feel like puking.

[Ken Cheng]

I guess it's better than using dead dogs and cats off the streets. I mean who know what diseases those animals carry. At least cardboard is made from trees. I really feel like puking.

To be fair, American carnivals and circuses had a similar gimmick of using sawdust in hamburgers and hot dogs, but that was 100 years ago...way before the U.S. Government established the FDA.

The former head of the Chinese equivalent of the FDA was executed just a few days ago for, yep, you guessed it: corruption.

"Sigh." Political corruption is as Chinese as chopsticks and tea.

[Sugar]

I guess it's better than using dead dogs and cats off the streets. I mean who know what diseases those animals carry. At least cardboard is made from trees. I really feel like puking.

I don't know.. i wouldn't be surprised that the cardboard were made with some other funky chemcials.. or the trees themselves contained some toxins


man, first there were complaints of soysauce made from human hair, then pesticides used to make bamboo chopsticks, fishses swimming in toxic water, now cardboard in buns
anything else?

[pemberly]

i don't think this is as bad as the fake infant formula. babies died, and some were permanently brain damaged from it. especially with china's one baby rule, a lot of families must have fallen apart.

[GuGu]

i don't think this is as bad as the fake infant formula. babies died, and some were permanently brain damaged from it. especially with china's one baby rule, a lot of families must have fallen apart.

that made me cry! how the hell could they do that? what if they fed it to their kids!!?!?!?!? those bastards!!!!!!!!!

[godiva]

To be fair, we don't know what people put in the hamburger meat and sausage in our fast food restaurants. Did anyone watch or read Fast Food Nation? McDonald's, Burger King, need I say more?
It's horrid to learn how they prepare food in some Chinese street vendors, but recklessness is common in many people in other countries(that is not to say I'm making excuse for these chinese vendors).

[GuGu]

To be fair, we don't know what people put in the hamburger meat and sausage in our fast food restaurants. Did anyone watch or read Fast Food Nation? McDonald's, Burger King, need I say more?
It's horrid to learn how they prepare food in some Chinese street vendors, but recklessness is common in many people in other countries(that is not to say I'm making excuse for these chinese vendors).

No matter what, I still think we have more rules to follow in the US. Making the food here safer. If they don't follow the regulations they can be shut down.

Your screen name reminds me of a long lost friend of mine. I wonder where she is

[Sugar]

No matter what, I still think we have more rules to follow in the US. Making the food here safer. If they don't follow the regulations they can be shut down.

Your screen name reminds me of a long lost friend of mine. I wonder where she is

I agree. Even if hambuger meat in the US have preservatives and all, I don't think they would stoop as low as using cardboard fibers. I think the FDA have more strict guidlines

[GuGu]

I agree. Even if hambuger meat in the US have preservatives and all, I don't think they would stoop as low as using cardboard fibers. I think the FDA have more strict guidlines

But I still have to say, I feel much better buying the ingredients and making them myself. I rarely eat out anymore after there was report that someone found a finger in a cup of wendy's chilli.

Buying the ingredients and cooking it myself makes me more at ease.

[Sugar]

But I still have to say, I feel much better buying the ingredients and making them myself. I rarely eat out anymore after there was report that someone found a finger in a cup of wendy's chilli.

Buying the ingredients and cooking it myself makes me more at ease.

eh, the downside of eating up. Eat at your own risk
btw, are u the type who sues restaurant if u find a hair on ur food?

[GuGu]

eh, the downside of eating up. Eat at your own risk
btw, are u the type who sues restaurant if u find a hair on ur food?

LOL hell no. I just tell the waitress or waiter about it and most of the time they don't charge me for it. And I never return to that restaurant ever again.

[Sugar]

LOL hell no. I just tell the waitress or waiter about it and most of the time they don't charge me for it. And I never return to that restaurant ever again.

oh, because my teacher always taught me to sue sue SUE scary.

[bach_ngoc17]

I think food in the U.S. is still safer compared to some other countries. Besides China, I heard that in Vietnam many use Bleach on the vegetables to make it look better to potential buyers.

[GuGu]

oh, because my teacher always taught me to sue sue SUE scary.

Ummm, what kind of teacher is she? Teachers should be forgiving not sue every chance they get. You better not mess up in her class or she might sue you too.

[warlock110]

Ummm, what kind of teacher is she? Teachers should be forgiving not sue every chance they get. You better not mess up in her class or she might sue you too.

you must be thinking about 1-12K teachers, at higher lvl they're only obligated to teach the materials, and not moral values haha.

[Sugar]

I think food in the U.S. is still safer compared to some other countries. Besides China, I heard that in Vietnam many use Bleach on the vegetables to make it look better to potential buyers.

I know, I read that some parts in VN uses human feces and water to plant their crops.

Ummm, what kind of teacher is she? Teachers should be forgiving not sue every chance they get. You better not mess up in her class or she might sue you too.

eh, some cooking teacher. What do we expect from a white lady

you must be thinking about 1-12K teachers, at higher lvl they're only obligated to teach the materials, and not moral values haha.

u are right on the money honey

[godiva]

I know, I read that some parts in VN uses human feces and water to plant their crops.

We use animal feces as fertilizer anyway. Human or no human, I don't see using our feces having any different problem than using animals', but I know what you mean, they still make me

[GuGu]

We use animal feces as fertilizer anyway. Human or no human, I don't see using our feces having any different problem than using animals', but I know what you mean, they still make me

Yeah, that's fertilizing your crops the organic way. LOL, no need to buy expensive chemicals. But I don't think I've heard of human feces being used. In my country they use buffalo and cow dung.