China weeds out tainted animal feed
China's tainted food has moved further up the global food chain to include animal feed. Over the weekend, Chinese authorities said they're intervening massively to clean it all up. Scott Tong has more from Shanghai.
A hawker sells pork at a food market in Xiamen (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)
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TEXT OF STORY
Steve Chiotakis: China's tainted food scandal continues to widen. First, the toxic chemical melamine turned up in infant formula. And then the whole dairy chain, and then eggs. Now it's further up the global food chain in animal feed. And over the weekend, Chinese authorities said they're intervening massively to clean it all up. From Shanghai, Marketplace's Scott Tong reports.
Scott Tong: Chinese food inspectors seized or destroyed 3,600 tons of animal feed laced with melamine. That's 2 percent of what they sampled, according to state media.
In the last few days, local media have reported it's an open secret that the makers of fish, hog and chicken feed doctor their products with the toxic chemical. Melamine acts as a fake protein, and is linked to kidney damage.
So far, this food crisis has contained itself largely to mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. But there's growing concern about Chinese fish farms. They produce 35 percent of the seafood products consumed around the globe.
In Shanghai, I'm Scott Tong for Marketplace.
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