China Recalls - What's your reaction?

[shelbylovesmelby]

How do you feel about everything from food to now our dc's toys being recalled??

Do you read the "made in...." labels more concienciously than you did before?

Have the recalls made you avoid items "made in china"? and look for items made in the USA?

[Aleta]

I have reading them for a while. A few months back, I stopped eating any fish from China because of what I had veen reading. I have some items that I have had for a while that say made in the USA. Who knows they might be EBAY sellable?

I think as citizens, we have a right to know what the origin of any product comes from. That includes anything south of the US where the manufacturing may not be up to what it should be.

I have become concerned when I heard on the TV that (don't quote me) but I thought that I heard that 90% of vitamin c is manufactured in China. I'm a beg supplement person and that is a scary thing.

[lgslgs]

I think a lot of American companies are doing a lousy job in their QA and regulatory departments. If you hire contract manufacturing (in the US, China, or in East Podunk) you need to spec out your product properly, audit the manufacturing site, process, and materials, QA the finished goods, and make sure you clearly specify the product components and materials so that they meet US regulatory requirements.


I've worked for a big US manufacturer and worked with contract manufactures. I've had them disassemble pumps, done my own micro swabs, and tested their process water for contaminants even though it was from a US city supply.

US or China, a contract manufacturer is not a psychic. A lot of the products that get recalled are outsourced by companies that don't know their rear ends from a hole in the ground when it comes to their OWN country's product regulatory requirements. And a number of them are big companies that should know better who were too cheap to send a couple of engineers and QA folks out to audit the manufacture of their products at a foreign contract plant.

I can't even tell you how many times good old US contract manufactures brought us products to market that had ingredients that violated the applicable regulations. And I've also seen that plenty of times with in house products as well, but when R&D, regulatory, QA, safety, legal and manufacturing are all in the same building and speaking the same language those sorts of problems USUALLY get caught before they go to market. But even with that, plenty of oops's get out the door.

I don't see that China is the problem. The problem is sloppy business practices by the company who hired the work in the first place. Maybe language differences, geography, and local customs can introduce a few more challenges - but that's the same whether you manufacture in Long Island, Canada, France, Russia, the UK, China, India or wherever. It's just a lot easier to fan the flames on blaming China rather than to confess to sloppy work at the home office.

Lynda

[disneysteve]

I don't typically pay attention to labels as I tend to focus on design, quality and price when shopping. That said, however, I am a bit concerned about the food issues that have arisen. I knew that tons of products of all kinds were made in China, but I was surprised to learn how much of our food supply comes from China also. That is a much bigger problem since a fish doesn't come with a "Made in China" label, especially in a restaurant.

I think the US needs to do a far better job of inspecting and testing incoming food and food companies and restaurants need to do a better job of identifying on packages and menus where the food has come from.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

I have become more suspicious and hesitant of food from China. I was already disinterested in seafood from Chinese estuaries because I had read how horrible the pollution problem is. But the recent news does impress me all the more. I don't understand the movements of open ocean fish well enough to know whether it makes any difference if they are caught by Chinese, Potuguese, or American"ese" boats. I suppose I could second guess the processing and packaging according to country, though. So yes, I feel uneasy about food with the China name on it.

Also, I have a very good friend who is an immigrant from China in the last seven years. She has told me of issues of dangerous and unethical practices in China that I did not find from US news. She was not able to tell me of anything that affected USA consumers, but some things that happened within China. This takes down my confidence another notch.

If I were buying toys for a young child, I would think twice about now that, too. I did not think when my own was a child that I might be giving him any poisons in his toys.

I could probably get close to paranoia on such issues. Like---sometimes I wonder about the safety of dies in fabrics. Just what makes all those wonderful colors and are they all really safe in contact with our skin?

[Broken Arrow]

I heard that China has a minister of food and health safety inspections or something like that... and that they executed him over this.

Um, that is all.

[poundwise]

We still make stuff in the USA? Are you sure?

Looking for a "Made in the USA" label is quite the scavenger hunt these days.

[txex86]

We still make stuff in the USA? Are you sure?

Looking for a "Made in the USA" label is quite the scavenger hunt these days.

No kidding. I can't remember the last thing I purchased an item from a retailer that was made in the USA. What's the saying, "You reap what you sow?" The elimination of US manufacturing has created this problem, IMO. The sacrifice of quality for the corporate bottom line will continue to show that "outsourcing" to other countries with lax standards doe not serve the public well in the long term.

[Aleta]

I think this problem is like one of the posters said earlier even in our country. We have to look worldwide at the situation and especially with outsourcing. It is the greed of the businesses and the overtaxing of the government that is creating this problem.

Our products are not so great either. There are countries who will not buy our vegetables. Some years back, they introduces aradiated vegetables and we weren't supposed to ask or complain about it. I think it's really a big product that is going to have to be dealt with.

[PrincessPerky]

We still make stuff in the USA? Are you sure?

Looking for a "Made in the USA" label is quite the scavenger hunt these days.

yep..can't see avoiding china as a lot of previous years recalls are from other countries...For the same thing, lead in paint...not a new phenomenon.

It makes me glad we avoid new toys in general...and makes me wish we avoided even more.

[cptacek]

it makes me mad that these things go on in other countries and we don't stop trade with them, but if a cow in CANADA gets mad cow disease Korea won't import AMERICAN beef.

Also, irradiated food has been deemed safe:
Center for Consumer Research - Food Irradiation - Safety Issues

BTW, I don't want to get into an argument about irradiated food. But the food supply from America is highly regulated, and in other countries it is not.

[loanstar]

i would be warry of the food but not the plastics/toys, those you can make your own evaluation on the spot before buying.

i would be warry of the food but not the plastics/toys, those you can make your own evaluation on the spot before buying.

How can you tell a toy is made with lead paint?