KEY POINTS:
Last week, my wife wanted us to boycott China. Two news reports affected her so much she wanted everything with the words "Made in China" barred from our home. The first report was about an unlicensed steamed-bun vendor in Beijing, who stuffed his baozi with cardboard soaked in caustic soda and seasoned pork fat in replacement of cha shao, Chinese barbecued pork.
Baozi, or cha shao bao as the buns stuffed with barbecued pork are known, are a favourite with our kids. They are a must-have whenever we go for yum char, and my wife had bought a packet of frozen ones, imported from China, ready to put in their lunch boxes.
After reading the report, the frozen baozi ended up in the bin.
The second was a report on a Chinese candy which was a major part of our childhood years: the White Rabbit Creamy Candy. Part of the fun of eating this milky candy is being able to eat its wrapper.
Each candy was wrapped with edible rice paper that would melt when you ate it. I used to pride myself in being able to peel it off with my teeth without letting it touch the tongue.
We had just rediscovered the White Rabbit candy at the local Asian grocery shop, and introduced them to our kids. You can imagine the devastation when a report last week said the edible rice paper contained formaldehyde, a preservative used to embalm the dead.
These two reports hit us hard. Sure, we've read of toothpaste from China being laced with poison, and about tainted pet food and exploding cellphone batteries, but we've treated them as one of those things that happen to other people.
After all, those three words "Made in China" spell cheap goods, and were the key to helping us stretch our dollars. Having a lower quality was just an inconvenience that came with it.
The reports have changed the way we see things when we step into the Asian grocery shop.
I look at a can of imported pork luncheon meat and wonder how it can be sold for 99c, knowing that the price of pork has spiralled upwards in China. Inevitably, the thought of cardboard, caustic soda and pork flavouring comes to mind.
So we tried to start our new lives without any Chinese-made products. But this is easier said than done. Without even realising it, China has taken over our homes and lives.
Everything, from our clothes, the TV remote, the sauces in our kitchen and the kids' toys to our bed linen had the words "Made in China" stamped on them.
We eat, wear, play and even sleep China. It lurks everywhere, even on my All Blacks' bath towel.
Knowing that it would be mission impossible for us to shut out China from our lives, we gave up.
We have resigned ourselves to the fact that China will probably, inextricably, be part of us for the rest of our lives. China is the world's factory. In most cases one would struggle to find cheaper alternatives to Chinese-made products.
The world's most-populous nation is also the world's second-largest exporter. As a growing economic and political power and in an open market such as New Zealand, it is impossible to avoid.
According to the Chinese Government, efforts are underway to overhaul the country's food-safety regulations. To show the world it means business, two weeks ago it executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog for accepting bribes to approve untested medicine.
But is this all just a show?
Is China hoping that finding a scapegoat is a quick fix to restoring international confidence in its health safety problems?
China needs to do a lot more than that if it wants to show the world it is serious about tackling product safety issues.
Two weeks ago, Green MP and Safe Food spokeswoman Sue Kedgley called for tougher controls on seafood imported from China.
This followed test results in America which found imported Chinese seafood to be contaminated and contain substances that can be harmful to people. I think she has a valid point.
Although protectionism and shutting the doors to Chinese products is not an option, New Zealand must have tougher controls.
As a small nation, it should join forces with like-minded countries and continue to put pressure on China.
China may be big and in many ways indispensable but that does not give it the right to give the world shoddy products.
* In the latest reports, the reporter behind the cardboard-in-steamed-buns investigation has been detained by police and accused of fabricating the story. White Rabbits' manufacturer, Guang Sheng Yuan Group, has blamed counterfeiters for its quality problems and has threatened to sue the Philippine Bureau of Food and Drugs.
* lincoln@iballmedia.co.nz
