Luna

Tamera Davis
Luna Zhao
English COMP II MWF 10:30
Essay 4
Due date 16/11/2015

Food safety with Food additive

We are what we eat. How often do you hear this expression? I bet that at least once in your
life you have heard it. But what does it mean? It means that we dont know what we consume
and what we are paying for it. We dont know how dangerous game can our ignorance play
with us. We buy products without even a small interest in its content. Overall, I believe that
people should leave away from the food additive because chemicals have been proven to
cause infant deaths, obesity, and cancer.
Media lists dozens of facts when people suffered serious health problems because of the
low consumption. CNN reports that according to Chinas Health Ministry, more than 1, 200
people were sickened because they consumed contaminated milk, one child has died. In 2004
in the eastern Anhui province at least 13 infants have died because they drank milk powder
that contained little of nutritious elements. According to the paper, the illegally manufactured
milk was falsely labeled with the Sanlu brand. In the result, more than 170 other babies were
hospitalized. (Tainted Chinese Milk Kills Second Child, 2008). The vice mayor of
Shijiazhuang, Zhao Xinchao has reported that Their fake milk contained water and
chemicals, which made it resemble the real product. ( Tainted Chinese Milk Kills Second
Child", 2008) In order to reveal this manufacture secret, the thorough investigation was
conducted. Li Changjilang, head of the State Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine said that Government inspectors were testing baby formula

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around China and plan to release their results as soon as possible. ( Tainted Chinese Milk
Kills Second Child, 2008) The testing of a formula was shocking. Xian Hui, the vicegovernor of Gansu, She said the two of 12 samples from Sanlu milk powder has been
detecting included the excess melamine. ( Tainted Chinese Milk Kills Second Child,
2008) This chemical is often used in wood adhesives, fabric coatings, in laminates, ceiling
tiles and flame retardants. Health experts stress that The consumption of melamine can lead
to serious health problems, among which are: kidney stones, urinary tract ulcers, eye and skin
irritation. (Tainted Chinese Milk Kills Second Child, 2008) Our small friends, pets are
also under the risk of contamination. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recalled more
than 150 brands of cat and dog food when they became ill or even died because the food was
rich in melamine, the same chemical product which put it under the risk lives of thousand
people. The fact is the food additive problems silently make the negative influence for us, and
the life. Only during the past years, hundreds of people sickened because of they eat the stale
meat, people add the colouring into the meat to make it fresh, however, the food additive can
change the color of the meat, but it is cannot make the meat fresh. We buy products that we
think will be healthy for us but become ill and contaminated. In response to the well-known
melamine contamination, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew Cvon
Eschenbach has announced the new position at the FDA, which is The Assistant
Commissioner for Food Protection. David Kessler, who served as the FDA commissioner
from 1990 to 1997, and who is now dean of the School of Medicine at the University of
California, San Francisco, he believe that the government need giving more fund to control
the food safety, no funding to do important research to find ways to prevent food
borne illnesses and no tools to hold companies accountable for implementing food safety mea
sures and taking quick action when the problem was discovered. Besides, some of the food
safety control department doesnt have the legal rights to manage the food market. We need

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the food safety law to control our food market. (Food Safety Reform in the US, 2010)
Unfortunately, this first step is far from its effectiveness.
Moreover, I believe that the food additive is negative for people health because it can result
people get cancer. (Safety of Food Additives in Japan, 2011) The canned foods are famous
in the late 20th century, in that the canned food can be stored a long time without spoiling. In
general, the food has a limited time to keep fresh, it is good for stored. However, to keep the
canned food stored for a long time, almost all of canned food will add the food additive, for
example, the sodium nitrite, which can make the food seem like fresh and it also can color the
meat fresh. This kind of industrial salt has been widely using in worldwide, specially in
China.
What about Chinese safety food? Katie Hunt (2015), reports to CNN that Almost half of
the produced Chinese food fail to meet the standards. Asia Inspection, quality control
specialist, stated that 48 % of the conducted last year revisions and tests failed to meet the
standard requirement. (Why Chinese Safety is so Bad, 2015) Asia Inspections vice
president, Mathieu Labasse told that We find factories that just have no basic idea about
hygiene standards. People that handle the food, they have no gloves, nothing. ( Why
Chinese Safety is so Bad, 2015) Some laboratory tests have revealed abnormal levels of
pesticides, antibiotics, heavy metals, bacteria or viruses that are dangerous to consumers.
Lebasse said that We see awareness growing, but we dont see on the ground a concrete
improvement yet - it will come. (Why Chinese Safety is so Bad, 2015) Recent news has
showed that China is famous for food violation scandals. The noisiest scandal was connected
with the U.S.-owned meat factory that operates in China. It was accused of selling out-of-date
and tainted meat to clients including McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC and Pizza Hut chains. The
clue to their failures may be the following: the country has 500,000 food production and
processing companies, 70% of which have fewer than ten employees. It makes very hard to

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control it on a good level. So, they don"t know what is happening behind their eyes. Labasse
stresses that The buyers are focusing their efforts on people they signed a contract with, but
they should take an extra step and take control of the full supply chain and going as far as the
third or fourth level of suppliers. (Why Chinese Safety is so Bad,2015)
Despite the fact, that significant approaches concerning the food safety were conducted
there still appears concerns about food borne illnesses in the U.S. In 2011 updated analyzes
suggested that there are still appearing deaths and hospitalizations: 128,000 hospitalizations
and 3,000 deaths. The Journal of Environmental Health also states, that the sum of direct
health-related costs associated with food borne illnesses was estimated at $51 billion per
year; this figure jumps to $77.7 billion when factoring in a functional disability measure of
monetized quality-adjusted life years.Among these statistics are different demographic
groups, one of which is college students who go to a dining room on a daily basis without
even realizing what can be waiting for them and under which risk they can put their lives.
Considering the risk that students and young adults can face, different studies were published.
Among them is a food safety, which scale contains 460 students at a major American
university questioned. Another study included an online self-reported survey about the risk of
food consumption and general knowledge of people about safety food. A number of young
students were 4,343, and they were recruited from different universities among the U.S.The
results of these studies turned out to be quite polar.In the first study, the average score of the
students on the test was 39%, while, in the second case, the percentage of the correct food
safety knowledge questions by the participants was 60%. Another study that is important to
recall was based on the international college students. The result of a study in Greece was
rather poor-only 37 % of participants have answered correctly at food safety questions and
only 38 % correct answers at food handling practice questions. A survey in Turkey female

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college has showed, that their general knowledge in food handling practices is good, but their
knowledge in food safety was rather poor.
Meanwhile, people always know we get the obesity because we move too little and eat too
much, but the facts are, people get the obesity has an inseparable relationship with food.
Many people who opt for healthy life in America tell that it is addictive, it is because contains
a big amount of sugar, fat, and salt. Emily Cardiff in her Addictive article Ingredients in Fast
Food and their Effect on your Body states that These compounds, followed with the
monosodium glutamate makes you to strive for the harmful burger and to eat it again and
again.(Cardiff, 2013) Monosodium Glutamate is a form of concentrated salt added food to
enhance the flavor. In addition, the fast food will the heart disease, and people need to pay
attention that the obesity will carrying with the heart disease, diabetes mellitus and
hypertension in general. Despite the fact, that it is considered to be safe and officially
recognized by the FDA, there still appears many reports about skin rashes, itching, asthma,
depression, etc. What is hiding behind that tasty miracle? The real facts frighten. Your
sandwich may contain silicon dioxide also known as silica. Eventually, it is used to make
glass, optical fibers, ceramics and cement. It is often used as an additive to meat to prevent
clumping. The cellulose used for the cheese to salad dressing, the soil fertilizer make the
vegetable more strong. Ammonium sulfate is sold by chemical companies to food
manufacturers, and some use it in the bakery. Another additive that is important to single
out is carminic acid, confectioners glaze. These food dyers, approved by the FDA include
colors synthesized from petroleum derivatives and coal tar. But one positive aspect still exists
some food dyers that is based on natural ingredients are not dangerous for consumers. Meet
carminic acid that is commonly used for colouring food into the red, is used in different
products. For example in sausages, meat, marinades, bakery products, desserts, jams, juices,
dairy products, and sauces. And finally Tertiary (TBHQ) which was made from compounds

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derived from petroleum and it is used in cosmetic and skincare products, lacquers and resins and processed food. McDonalds is famous for using it in 18 products ranging from Fruit and
Walnut Salad to Griddle Cakes to McNuggets. Five grams of it can cause a lethal effect while
one gram can cause nausea and vomiting effect. In response to it, the FDA has mandated that
the chemical must not exceed 0.02 percent of a foods oil and fat content. It seems that we
realize how much additives and dyers are used in the products, some of us can refuse from
most of them.
Finally, in the past few years, the food additive problems in endless. My proposals are
people should stop eating the food additive because it makes a lot of people get the obesity,
heart disease and cancer. The only way for taking care of people at food safety is rejected the
food additive, enjoy with the nature food. For building our better and healthy life, I
recommend people to supporting the work of FDA, we need control the food additive in the
food market, we need know what we eat. Meanwhile, I hope people can trying to eat the fresh
and quality foods, its not only for leave away from the ill but also for the better life.

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References:
Tainted Chinese Milk Kills Second Child. CNN China News, updated 8:35 p.m. EDT, Mon
September 15, 2011.
This article reports the China milk powder killed second child in 2008. The milk powder has
the melamine more than the China Food Safety Law requires. The melamine will make the
bad for young children and the milk powder killed more than 20 children in China, it has
resulted in recent. The author explains that why more and more Chinese people would like to
buy the expensive milk powder in international market rather than in China.
This article is reported to be the most comprehensive. I will use this event to show how poor
of managing at China food safety, it is a good example for the reader to know the China food
safety situation.
Hunt, Katie. Why Chinese Food Safety is So Bad. Hong Kong (CNN) 2:53 AM ET, Fri
January

16, 2015.

In China, people faced with the food safety problem every day. The author mention that in
China, we dont have a hygiene standards for managing the food safety. That is why people
always face with the food safety problem, but we have no idea.
Katie Hun is a senior producer for CNN International and edits the China section, she lives in
Hong Kong for a long time. Maybe the views of the writer is not very comprehensive, because
based on the different culture, but is a good paper for me to review. This article can help me to
know in other people views, what problem that China have, it is can help me make the
conclusion of the Chinese food safety problem.

Green, Eric J, MS, REHS . Food Safety Knowledge and Practices of Young Adults Journal
of Environment Health 77.10 (Jun 2015): 18-24.
This journal article discussed about the influence of food safety for young adults. They
adopted the form of questionnaire surveys, investigation of the how people know about food
safety on campus. The authors think that through investigation, food safety education should
be the first popular for young people.

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Eric J Green, focus on food, health and environment study. He pay attention on food safety
with people and do many surveys and investigation. This article can help me give suggestion.
And remind people take care of food safety with children.
Food Safety Reform in USA. The Lancet, Volume 369, Issue9573. May 2011, p 1575.
This article talk about the food safety problem in USA. People begin to pay close attention to
the safety of food additives. In recently, more and more food safety problem damage the
people healthy. Such as the melamine, is can make the food looks like having more protein.
However, when people use too much food additive, this makes people get worse at health.
In the past few years, people always said the China is the most serious country of food safety.
However, in recently, more and more food safety question happened in developed countries.
The author wants to remind people, the food safety problem should draw attention by
everyone. For my essay, I will connect food safety and food additive, this article give me
many good examples. I will use it to support my points.

Cardiff, Emily. Additive Ingredients in Fast Food and their Effect on Your Body. One
Green Planet. September 8, 2013
The author writes, the invention of the food additive for food taste better, but people ignore the
bad effects of food additives. Most fast food use the food additives, its high in syrup, high
quantity of heat, difficult to digest and so on. This caused the most people suffer from obesity
and hard to lose weight.Difficult to cure obesity with diabetes and heart disease.
Emily is a good writer and reader, she love life and always take care of peoples health. The
author take care of people daily life, this article focus on the fast food and junk food will make
the negative influence for people. This is a good article, but the author missing one point, not
all food additive are negative. This article give the example close people and life, and its can
be the support for explaining the negative of food additive for peoples health.
Stuart, Tristram. The Global Food Waste Scandal. TED Salon London Spring 2012. 14:15.
Western countries waste up to half of their food. This is an injustice Tristram Stuart has
dedicated his career to fix. He reminded people that resource is limited, however, the waste of
foods can be infinite. Sometimes, when the supply large than the demon, the food will be the
waste. The stale meat will be sold for people.
The Author Tristram Stuart is a published author and activist. He pay attention in notifying
people stop wasting food and keep our plant sustainable development. This speech makes me
realize that we lose the control of food safety, its also the waste of food.
Ito, Sumio. Safety of Food Additives in Japan. Yakgaku Zasshi, Vol. 131, March 2011, No.7
P 1027-1035

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Japan as the birthplace of food additive, for it is safe or not, in the past, based on the food
safety law, people believe that it was safe. But in recent years, more and more food safety
problems emerge in front of people, its made people rethink about food additive. He mention
that if people lose the control of food additive, or excessive it, like the China Milk Powder, the
food additive will become the poison.
Sumio Ito is an author work for Yakgaku Zasshi, he focus on the Japanese social, especially in
environment with government. The resource of the author is coming from the Kenichi Ohmae,
the father of the food additive, he creates the food additive, but in his old year, The kenichi
Ohmae put forward of food additive need to be controlled. For this article, the author give me
a good example in food additive.