While Chinese food may be some of your favorite style of food. However, several products imported from China have been known to carry traces of dangerous chemicals. In some cases, the food you think you’re buying isn’t actually that food at all.
In today’s day and age, it’s important to know where your food came from. Many countries don’t have the same food and health regulations as the United States, so you have to always check the labels! Let’s take a look at some Chinese imported goods that you should avoid.
Apple Juice
As the largest producer of agricultural products in the world, China uses some questionable methods to keep up with booming demand. The country uses pesticides to grow many of their crops, including apples. Unfortunately, those harmful chemicals often make it into their apple juice.
A few popular brands of apple juice sold in the US from China have shown high arsenic levels. The chemical likely comes from the rampant use of pesticides when growing apples. If consumed often enough, the arsenic could cause serious health problems.
Tilapia
While tilapia might be the go-to choice when cooking a fish-themed dinner, the freshwater fish are raised in terrible conditions. In China, the tilapia are grown in small ponds with thousands of other fish. Not only are these ponds dirty and cramped, but they are contaminated with lots of trash and sewage.
No fish should be raised in such a toxic condition—especially fish that are meant for human consumption. When you eat tilapia imported from China, you’re also potentially eating toxins, which can be very unhealthy.
Ginseng
Most of the ginseng that is bought and sold in the United States is imported from China. This root plant is actually one of the most common produce exported from the country. However, this does not mean that it’s safe.
Greenpeace tested imported ginseng from China and found that almost every single one had some trace of pesticides or other toxic chemicals in varying amounts. The ginseng didn’t have just one type of chemical either. Every root plant contained multiple chemicals that are known to be damaging to the human body.
Table Salt
Table salt is a staple in everyone’s home. You can put it on almost everything you eat. Although China is one of the top salt miners and manufacturers in the world, you’ll want to stay clear of their table salt because the way they mine and then produce the salt makes it unsafe to put on your food.
Imported Chinese salt is commonly contaminated with metals and chemicals that can be unsafe for humans to consume. In addition, this table salt reportedly isn’t table salt at all. It’s industrial salt that is not supposed to be used for cooking.
Watermelon
Like the apples we just spoke about, watermelons imported from China are covered in pesticides. These chemicals are supposed to help the fruit grow very fast, which increases the amount of produce they export to other countries.
However, these chemicals can seep into the fruit. When eating watermelon from China, you can possibly ingest these chemicals. It may be better to buy your fruit, especially watermelon, from your local grocery store or farmer’s market.
Garlic
Garlic is another type of product that is filled with pesticides. It seems that China has a huge problem with pesticides. The country doesn’t have any laws that regulate the use of chemicals, so farmers tend to use pesticides on several types of products so they can export large amounts.
These chemicals are harmful, especially in garlic, because garlic tends to soak up anything around it. If your eating garlic imported from China, then you might be ingesting chemicals.
Beef
In general, purchasing imported meat from China may not be the best idea in the world. Some people say that because of the process they use to manufacture meat, it is filled with diseases that may make you sick.
Meat shops in the country are known for producing meat at a quick rate and for their less than ideal safety measures. The shops are also known to mix different things together and then sell it as beef. This means that people don’t actually know what they’re buying.
Rice Noodles
If you’re planning on making an Asian meal, you’re most likely going to make something with rice noodles. While rice noodles imported from China may seem like your best bet (because they make your meal more authentic and taste very good), they can actually be harmful to your body.
Unfortunately, rice noodle factories in China sometimes use sulfur dioxide. This chemical makes the noodles look fresh, but it has also been liked to cancer.
Baby Formula
Some people are willing to take a few chances here and there with their own health. However, it may not be the best idea to take chances with your child’s health. Before buying baby formula, check the label to be sure that it isn’t imported from China.
Some years ago, people discovered that Chinese manufactures made their formula with melamine, a chemical that is used in plastics. With melamine, the formula seemed to be higher in protein, but it can be harmful if consumed in high doses.
Milk
Baby formula isn’t the only product that has traces of melamine. The chemical was also found in milk from China. If this is consumed too much, it can cause damage to the kidneys. Several people have become ill after drinking milk imported from China.
While it is unclear if people became sick from Chinese milk because of the time it takes to import goods or because of the melamine. Regardless, do yourself a favor and try not to buy imported milk from any country.
Rice
Similar to rice noodles, buying rice imported from China may seem like the obvious choice when making an Asian meal. A lot of Chinese meals contain rice, so it has to be good, right? Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case.
There are many rice factories in China that use synthetic resin. This substance is like plastic and has been linked to cancer. Be careful when you buy rice, and make sure to look at the ingredients.
Shrimp
Along with other imported items from the sea, shrimp imported from China shouldn’t be at the top of your grocery list. A few years ago, Texas Tech University conducted a study on different bags of shrimp purchased at different stores in the United States.
They concluded that imported shrimp from China had traces of chloramphenicol, enrofloxacin, and carcinogen nitrofurazone. These chemicals are illegal in the States because of the harm they cause to the human body.
Cabbage
Crop production depends entirely on the season. However, Chinese farmers cannot afford to lose any of their crops to harsh weather conditions. During the summer months, cabbage will become wilted and inedible.
To keep the cabbage looking fresh during some of the hottest months of the year, farmers spray their cabbage with a solution containing formalin. This chemical may keep the cabbage looking fresh, but it can be harmful to the body.
Canned Peaches
Canned peaches aren’t the healthiest option, but canned peaches from China can be especially damaging. It’s not the peaches themselves that are harmful. It’s the can they are packaged in. In a study conducted by Australia,
it was discovered that metal cans from China contained twice the amount of legal lead. Given the amount of lead found in each can, it’s bound to infuse with the peaches inside. Lead poisoning can cause reduced muscle coordination and damage to your nervous system.
Canned Tuna
Like canned peaches, canned tuna is known to contain large amounts of lead because of the metal can they are packaged in. Believe it or not, this isn’t the only reason you shouldn’t buy tuna imported from China.
Canned tuna from China contains harmful toxins found in other fish that are sold b China. These fish are contaminated with toxic chemicals, especially because farm-grown fish are fed animal waste. Whatever the fish eat finds its way into your can of imported tuna.
Oil
Not all oil exported from China is tainted; however, the lack of food safety laws make it far too easy for Chinese oil manufacturers to sell potentially dangerous products.
A few years ago, a large food company from China decided to take used oil from restaurants, put it through a filter, and then sell it as brand new oil. This means that you could potentially buy recycled oil if you purchase oil exported from China.
Mushrooms
Tainted mushrooms exported from China are actually quite common. Besides soaking up pesticides like many other types of produce, mushrooms are often mislabeled so manufacturers can sell them at a higher price.
“Normal” mushrooms are stamped with an organic label, which is very misleading. Imported mushrooms are also sprayed with a lot of preservatives, so they look fresher. Over the years, food inspectors found many problems with imported mushrooms.
Lamb
A lot of traditional Chinese food contains strange ingredients, and some people in China are often suspected of not serving the meat they claimed to have cooked for you. This was the case a few years ago.
In 2013, Chinese officials arrested 900 people who were selling rat meat as lamb meat. Police also found 20,000 pounds of rat meat that was spoiled. You definitely don’t want to eat that meat!
Chicken
Another type of food that you want to avoid is chicken from China. Avian influenza and other types of harmful diseases are very common in Eastern countries. In China, especially, chickens often fail to meet health and safety requirements, but they are bought and sold anyway.
So if you’re looking to stay healthy, do yourself a favor and steer clear of chicken that was raised in China. If you eat chicken from this country, you might get sick.
Tea
The Chinese are known for producing and consuming large amounts of herbal tea, so it’s perfectly normal to think that purchasing imported tea from China is safe. However, this is not entirely true.
Before you buy some tea bags from this Eastern country, remember that the tea could very possibly contain 30 toxic chemicals. In principle, these possible toxic teas aren’t supposed to be exported out of China because of this, but it’s best not to take any risks. Check the labels before you buy tea!
Wine
If you know and understand wine, then you know that there are some countries that are very good at making it. China is not one of those countries. Wine made in China is, of course, made with grapes, but it also contains other substances like lots of sugar, dyes, and artificial flavors.
Wine from China isn’t necessarily dangerous or harmful to your body like the other items on our list. However, it doesn’t taste very good. You’re better off purchasing wine from a different country.
Pork
In China, people tend to consume pork more than beef for a very good reason: pork is nearly half the price of beef! Several restaurants and meat companies use this to their advantage.
Many Chinese companies try to make a bigger bang for their buck by purchasing pork and selling it as beef. They add borax-filled additives to the pork to change its coloring. While this works out very well for the meat sellers, it endangers the health of consumers.
Soy Sauce
Soy sauce is most likely a staple in your fridge. Despite its high salt content, it’s the perfect condiment to add to white rice or really any Asian-inspired dish. Sadly, soy sauce exported from China is known to contain 4-Methylimidazole, which is a cancer-causing chemical.
This harmful substance is found in nearly 25% of all soy sauce that was manufactured in China. Just to stay on the safe side, try to purchase soy sauce that wasn’t imported from China.
Eggs
Many of the every-day products we consume are actually imported from China. The same goes for eggs. If you look closely at egg cartons from some grocery stores, you’ll notice that some eggs are not from local farms.
Be sure that you don’t anciently purchase eggs from China. The country has been known to use paraffin and calcium carbonate in their eggs. These chemicals can cause a lot of health problems if ingested.
Green Peas
Green peas are high in fiber and antioxidants, making them a healthy addition to any meal, that is unless they came from China. If you purchase green beans imported from China, you may not be buying what you think. Many green peas in China aren’t green peas at all.
They are a combination of soybeans, food bleaches, and several preservatives. So not only are they filled with substances linked to cancer, but they are also preventing you from enjoying the benefits of real green beans.
Well, now, you know. Here is another list of online scams you should be aware of and avoid the second you recognize what they really are.