The elites don't care because they eat from a different food
supply.
Amid milk scare, China's elite get special food.
BEIJING - While China grapples
with its latest tainted food
crisis, the political elite are served the choicest, safest
delicacies. They get hormone-free beef from the grasslands of
Inner Mongolia, organic tea from the
foothills of Tibet and rice watered by melted
mountain snow.
And it's all supplied by a special government outfit that
provides all-organic goods from farms working under the strictest
guidelines.
That secure food supply stands in stark contrast to the
frustrations of ordinary citizens who have faced recurring food
scandals — vegetables with harmful pesticide residue, fish tainted with a cancer-causing
chemical, eggs colored with industrial dye, fake liquor causing
blindness or death, holiday pastries with bacteria-laden
filling.
Now that the country's most reputable dairies have been found
selling baby formula and other milk products tainted with an
industrial chemical that can cause kidney
stones and kidney failure,
many Chinese don't know what to buy. Tens of thousands of children
have been sickened and four babies have died.
Knowing that their leaders do not face these problems has made
some people angry.
"Food
safety is a high priority for children and families of
government officials, so are normal citizens less entitled to safe
food?" asked Zhong Lixun, feeding her 7-month-old grandson baby
formula after he got checked for kidney stones at Beijing
Children's Hospital.
The State Council Central Government Offices Special Food Supply Center is
specifically designed to avoid the problems troubling the general
population.
"We all know that average production facilities use large
quantities of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Antibiotics and
hormones are commonly used in raising livestock and poultry. Farmed
aquatic products are contaminated by various kinds of water
pollution," the center's director, Zhu Yonglan, said in a speech
earlier this year.
"It goes without saying that these are harmful when consumed by
humans," Zhu told executives at supplier Shandong Ke'er Biological
Medical Technology Development Co., which posted it on its Web
site.
Zhu's speech has been widely circulated by Chinese Internet
users on blogs and forums in recent days, with many expressing
outrage that top government officials have a separate — and safer —
food supply than the public.
The special food center enforces strict standards on suppliers
like Shandong Ke'er, which makes health supplements designed to
boost immunity and energy. Foods must be organic, not genetically
modified and meet international food standards, said a manager in
the center's product department, who only gave her surname,
Zhang.
The reason: its A-list clientele of government officials and
retirees of vice minister rank or higher.
It's not unusual for China's leadership to have a special food
supply; the practice stretches back thousands of years to farms
providing ingredients for lavish imperial meals or the greasy,
spicy dishes favored by Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong.
The former Soviet Union's ruling classes also ate food that was
unavailable to the masses. In North Korea, where withering famines have seen tens of
thousands starve over the past 13 years, leader Kim
Jong Il is a gourmet known for his love of lobster, shark's
fin soup and sushi. His former private chef has said Kim keeps an
extensive collection of vintage French
wines.
Set up in 2004, China's Special Food
Supply Center is almost as secretive as its high-end clientele,
whose precise number is unclear, but includes hundreds of top
political leaders, their families and retired cadres. Much of the
information on its Web site was removed after media inquiries and
interview requests this week.
Goods deemed to meet the highest standards are stamped with the
label "Nation A," which stands for "top end, irreplaceable, the
best," according to the Web site. Those products are for senior
politicians or government offices and not released to the general
consumer market, said a customer service agent surnamed Dong.
Rice fed by melted snow from Mt. Changbai, which straddles the
China-North Korean border, gets a "Nation A" rating, according to
the Web site.
The center scours the country for purveyors in places famous for
a particular product, said Zhang, the manager.
These include fish from Hubei province —
known traditionally as the "land of fish and rice" — tea from
mountainous Yunnan province abutting
Tibet, and beef and mutton from the Inner Mongolian
steppes, according to Zhu's speech.
As for rice, some comes from the northeast, grown from seeds
specially cultivated by experts from the Jilin Academy of
Agricultural Sciences, said sales manager Wu Honghua of Chifeng
Heiyupaozi Organic Agropastoral Development Co.
It "has a very small output. It tastes very good. And it doesn't
involve genetic engineering," said Wu.
Wu said 90 percent of the rice goes to the Beidaihe Sanitorium —
a seaside resort for retired party cadres. The remainder is sold on
the market, he said, at $4 a pound — a price five times higher than
regular organic rice and 15 times more than the price of ordinary
rice.
A brand of organic tea supplied to the center sells for $187 a
pound. "It's fresh and tender, smells good and has a bright color,"
said Xia Dan, an employee of the Huiming Tea Co. in eastern
Zhejiang province.
The latest food safety scandal began with tainted baby formula
from one company, but widened to include products from 22 of
China's dairies. Countries as far away as Kenya and Colombia have banned or recalled Chinese dairy imports,
while cakes, candies and other products made with milk products
have come under suspicion.
Since the scandal broke earlier this month, sales of Chinese
milk have plummeted after top dairies Mengniu Dairy Group Co. and
Yili Industrial Group Co. were found to have sold contaminated
milk.
Chinese looking for reassurance have turned to one company not
named in any recalls — Sanyuan Foods Ltd.
It proudly advertises that its milk is used for state banquets
at the Great Hall of the People and has seen its sales triple in
Beijing, while demand has outstripped supply
in at least one province. And that's despite the fact that its
price — about $1.60 a quart — is 25 percent higher than other
brands.
