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China Concedes Safety Problems
The Wall Street Journal - July 5, 2007
The Chinese government acknowledged widespread quality-control and safety problems for domestically sold goods ranging from food to baby clothing to grass-cutting equipment, a reminder of the toll on its own consumers at a time of increasing foreign scrutiny of imports from China. Beijing's assessment had a sobering main finding: Nearly one-fifth of the sold-in-China products that were studied failed to meet the country's quality standards. In the first half of 2007, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine reviewed 114 types of products made by more that 6,300 companies and found that 19.1% were substandard, according to a statement on its Web site. The report singled out 26 categories of products for low quality, including bottled water, canned fruit, dried fish, linens and other goods. In the case of canned fruit, dried fish and vermicelli noodles, "major quality problems exist" because of high levels of bacterial contamination and excessive amounts of additives, the report said.