The tainted ingredient in “Veggie Booty” that has been giving U.S. toddlers and infants salmonella is from China:
WASHINGTON – A New Jersey spice importer supplied the salmonella-contaminated seasoning used on snack food that has sickened 60 people, most of them infants and toddlers, the company recalling the snacks said Thursday.
Robert’s American Gourmet Inc. purchased the seasoning from Atlantic Quality Spice & Seasonings, said Robert Ehrlich, president and chief executive of the snack food company. The Sea Cliff, N.Y., company has recalled its Super Veggie Tings Crunchy Corn Sticks and Veggie Booty snack foods, both of which used the spray-on seasoning.
Ehrlich said previously the seasoning, believed made with Chinese ingredients, tested positive for a rare strain of salmonella.
With stories like this from the other day of cardboard as the main ingredient in some types of Chinese street food, the call for better labeling of our food products will only increase.
So, how does China deal with this crisis? Easy…blame the U.S. media:
Chinese officials are blaming the international media, especially from the US, for fueling fears about the safety of the country’s food and drug exports, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The accusations in the state-run China Daily came as China blocked a US protein powder shipment. Chinese inspectors announced the protein powder contained too much selenium and was being sent back, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
The deaths of patients in Panama from mislabeled drug ingredients from China, deadly toxins in pet food and food laced with additives and antibiotics have fanned anxiety in the US.
But foreign reports about tainted Chinese products have presented isolated failings as the whole picture, said Li Changjiang (%u674E%u9577%u6C5F), head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.