The foreign Taitai (housewife) and the grocery shopping in Shanghai
The foreign Taitai (housewife) and the grocery shopping in Shanghai
Maybe for fear of the ‘(un)known’ or maybe because it feels more natural to buy products whose name you can read, maybe for the nostalgia that grips you when you’re so far away from your Country…the average expat tends to buy considerable quantities of imported food: meat from Australia and Argentina, UHT milk mostly from France and New Zealand, pasta from Italy and Spain, wines from anywhere but China (the most popular local wine is Dynasty – which foreigners read as “Die Nasty”), imported frozen foods (only if when you get the box out of the supermarket freezer it doesn’t come alive…clear sign that somewhere on its way, it hasn’t been kept at the right temperature and has in the meantime defrosted only to be put in the freezer again ready to be sold), and over the years the variety of imports has increased much to the delight of us foreigners…
IF IT’S FOOD I NEED THE PROOF
I have lived in Shanghai for over 5 years and during this time we’ve had so many food scandals that they defy the most fervid imagination … milk tainted with melamine (which looks like proteins in tests), exploding watermelons (after being injected with a chemical to make them grow faster and bigger), glowing pork (apparently contaminated by bacteria but deemed safe to eat), artificial green peas (the hint there was that after 20 minutes of cooking, the peas did not turn soft but the water turned green), fake eggs made from resin, artificial beef made from reconstituted pork, fake pepper (made of mud and flour) … We’ve had poison in the toothpaste, skin irritating paper napkins (made of recycled paper and therefore a little bit grey, so someone thought it was a good idea to add bleach to make them look whiter…), chlorine-tainted soft drinks … and many more.
You’re so caught up reading about these regular finds, that you nearly forget the daily excessive pesticide used on crops, antibiotics on chickens and pigs, or the polluted ground water watering them...
To be fair there have also been some imported goods scandals ... like the tainted Italian olive oil (the origin wasn’t clearly stated, the olives could have come from Spain instead of Italy, posing of course a very serious health hazard) or cereal bars from a very famous brand found with mold, a total of 14 yoghurt products from a very well known French dairy company imported to Shanghai were destroyed because they had expired, and even more than five tons of a German mixed vegetable mash were found to have labeling problems and, of course, they were destroyed as well.
I must admit it does give me some comfort to know that the China's quality watchdog is always on high alert and that foreign Countries have to step up checks on products to ensure they meet Chinese standards. What a relief!
UNITED FOODS STATION
As a consequence of these unreliable at the best and life threatening at worst ‘incidents’, maybe for fear of the ‘(un)known’ or maybe because it feels more natural to buy products whose name you can read, maybe for the nostalgia that grips you when you’re so far away from your Country…the average expat tends to buy considerable quantities of imported food: meat from Australia and Argentina, UHT milk mostly from France and New Zealand, pasta from Italy and Spain, wines from anywhere but China (the most popular local wine is Dynasty – which foreigners read as “Die Nasty”), imported frozen foods (only if when you get the box out of the supermarket freezer it doesn’t come alive…clear sign that somewhere on its way, it hasn’t been kept at the right temperature and has in the meantime defrosted only to be put in the freezer again ready to be sold), and over the years the variety of imports has increased much to the delight of us foreigners…