Cha Siu Bao - cardboard flavored

[Morrigoon]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19723152/?GT1=10150

Mmm... pork-flavored wood pulp. Yesss.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

that's one way to recycle

[Capt Jack]

mmmm...its fiber-licious! I wonder if they roast up those little origami birds too

[Ghoulish Delight]

Not just cardboard. Dirty floor cardboard!

[Prudence]

And not just dirty floor cardboard, but dirty floor cardboard soaked in chemicals.

[BarTopDancer]

mmm chemical soaked floor carboard

[DreadPirateRoberts]

And not just dirty floor cardboard, but dirty floor cardboard soaked in chemicals.

you make is sound so bad, we like to call it "vitamin and mineral enhanced"

[Ghoulish Delight]

You know, you'd think Chinese citizens would be a bit more cautious about food safety these days (http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-07-10-voa19.cfm).

[Morrigoon]

Actually, what the article doesn't tell you is that they usually are. My brother (who is married to a Taiwanese woman) was over there (well, Taiwan, or Chinese Taipei as China likes it called), and said you knew which street vendors to eat from and which to avoid because some had a huge line, and some no customers at all. Apparently people keep tabs on the sucky vendors.

[Strangler Lewis]

Definitely time for another execution to put a positive spin on things.

[Snowflake]

I have lost my taste for Bao :(

That's just disgusting.

[Ponine]

Actually, what the article doesn't tell you is that they usually are. My brother (who is married to a Taiwanese woman) was over there (well, Taiwan, or Chinese Taipei as China likes it called), and said you knew which street vendors to eat from and which to avoid because some had a huge line, and some no customers at all. Apparently people keep tabs on the sucky vendors.

That article leaves some things out that the others articles revealed.
Among them, exactly what you said.
There are a few articles about this that cite the fact that there are many vendors, and this is a single case.

[Capt Jack]

well yeah. thats just like truck stops. hit one that has a lot of trucks, its likely decent. stop at one because you can get in and out real fast cuz its empty...chances are it sucks

[Morrigoon]

I have lost my taste for Bao :(

That's just disgusting.
Actually, here in the states I think bao are quite good. I particularly like the ones from Vons (yeah, I know, gringo market) because they're sweeter than some of the others.

Then again, you can go to 99 Ranch Market and get the real thing, and pick up red bean popsicles while you're at it :D

[JWBear]

Why do we allow things to be sold in the US, like pet food and toothpaste,to be made in China?

[Capt Jack]

after the last year or so, I wonder the same.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

Why do we allow things to be sold in the US, like pet food and toothpaste,to be made in China?

$$$$

[Ghoulish Delight]

Because it's cheap.

Several decades ago, this country made the decision (rightly) to improve health and safety standards in all industries while (less rightly) not insisting on similar progress from our trading partners. As a direct result, the cost of goods here has obviously outpaced imported goods, which we've happily consumed, dumping trillions of dollars into economies based on poor industrial standards. That money has allowed those countries to catch, and in many ways surpass, the United States in industrial productivity while maintaining their low standards of health and safety. Meanwhile, the gulf in costs has increased exponentially, and now we are completely locked in to continuing to rely on them for cheap goods else our economy faces collapse.

I'm at a loss as to how to recover from this trap we've set for ourselves. The United States completely blew it. We once had the leverage around the world to promote social change through economics. Third world countries once relied on our business to thrive to a far greater degree than we relied on them. And while it remains true that many smaller nations still rely on our business, we have become to mutually reliant upon them to really leverage that. And all the while we've supported corruption and slave-like labor.

Bleh.

[lashbear]

Ah, but does it taste like Bacon ?

[JWBear]

I seriously doubt it.

[lashbear]

But if they made a Cardboard Bacon Substitute (hereby referred to as a 'CBS') would you? Huh? Would you?

[Capt Jack]

yeah, they're marketed as Bac-O's (http://www.bettycrocker.com/Products/Bac-Os/) in this country

[JWBear]

yeah, they're marketed as Bac-O's (http://www.bettycrocker.com/Products/Bac-Os/) in this country

Blech!

[Prudence]

The LoT - where all threads turn to bacon.

[lashbear]

The LoT - where all threads turn to bacon.

Don't we know it ??? :D :D :D

[Capt Jack]

Blech!

aint that the truth. even the dogs wont eat em

[Ponine]

China reporter held over cardboard-in-buns story

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Beijing police have detained a television reporter for allegedly fabricating an investigative story about steamed buns stuffed with cardboard at a time when China's food safety is under intense international scrutiny.

A report directed by Beijing TV and played on state-run national broadcaster China Central Television last Thursday said an unlicensed snack vendor in eastern Beijing was selling steamed dumplings stuffed with cardboard soaked in caustic soda and seasoned with pork flavoring.

Beijing authorities said investigations had found that an employee surnamed Zi had fabricated the report to garner "higher audience ratings", the China Daily said on Thursday.

"Zi had provided all the cardboard and asked the vendor to soak it. It's all cheating," the paper quoted a government notice as saying.

A city-wide inspection of steamed bun vendors in the wake of the report had found no such cases, the paper said.

Beijing TV had apologized for failing to check the report's authenticity and said it would make efforts to improve staff ethics, the paper added.

China is reeling from a series of tainted food and drug scandals that have sparked criticism at home and abroad.

The deaths of patients in Panama from mislabeled drug ingredients from China, deadly toxins in pet food exported to the United States and food laced with hazardous antibiotics and chemicals have raised fears about the safety of China's surging exports.

On Wednesday, Premier Wen Jiabao pledged to improve food safety in a meeting with a visiting Japanese House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono, Kyodo news agency reported.

[Capt Jack]

hes toast. didnt they already execute one guy for their food issues? Im thinking they're fresh out of 'sense of humor'

[Ghoulish Delight]

And what exactly would the vendor's motivation have been for agreeing to this?

[€uroMeinke]

NPR (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12103649&ft=1&f=1004)also ran a story