Sick Citrus: Is it OK to Eat the Oranges?

Paul Pennay | Oct 23, 2008 9:00 am | 5 comments | 4075 reads

Update: EWSN has a translation of an interesting opinion piece published in the Southern Metropolis Daily about the dilema of whether to forward messages about the oranges or not.

Rumors of infected tangerines from Sichuan’s Guangyuan spread through Beijing earlier this week. Originally constrained to BBS forums and SMS messages, official news agencies have since picked up the story and acknowledged that there was indeed a pest outbreak in Guangyuan and that some fruit had been infected. However, the reports went on to downplay the extent of the outbreak and to reject the suggestion that tangerines from the area were being sold in Beijing. Sohu quoted a spokesperson from Beijing’s Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry (we have no idea why they, and not the ministry of Agriculture, would be monitoring this issue) as saying that no tangerines from Guangyuan are currently on sale in the capital. Officials from Sichuan’s Ministry of Agriculture also announced at a recent press conference that only small part of the tangerines grown in Guangyuan had been affected, and none of these were ever transported outside of the area where they were discovered. At the same time, officials announced that they were launching an investigation into the source on the rumor.

One upshot of the news is that the price of both oranges and tangerines in Beijing has gone down. Although officials have claimed that prices usually drop at this time of year (post public holiday and oranges are coming into season), it seems obvious that the drop in prices (RMB 1.6 a kilo on Tue to RMB 0.8-1 a kilo yesterday) is due to consumers concerns about the infected fruit. Tangerines selling in Beijing are mainly from Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi province. The price of oranges in Beijing has also dropped.

Links and Sources
China Daily: Reports on 'bad' fruit misleading
The Beijing News: 柑橘销售 价量双跌
Sohu: 北京未现广元藏蛆橘子 广大市民可以放心食用
Sina: 四川广元称正调查生蛆柑橘流入市场谣言源头 (image)
FoodsQS.com: Chart showing the price of oranges in Beijing over the past week
The Beijing News: top image
ESWN: Rumors Hurt Because Of Loss Of Trust In The Authorities

Comments

New comments are displayed first.

Comments

Beijing rose's picture Beijing rose Submitted by Guest on Mon, 11/10/2008 - 10:30

I guess it is OK now. I bought a lot of oranges and tangerines last month in BJ for the vitamin C, what with the cold weather starting to increase the risk of noses running. Did not spot one maggot.

I suppose it would not matter that much even if there were had been one : some countries find maggots a delicacy and nice protein source? I admit those are not 'my cup of tea' though.

But really, even if this piece of news should remind us to look carefully when we peel or wash vegetables or fruit, it should not have us despair that we can't eat anything China made any longer.

The melamine news is admittedly more troubling. Even if it were mostly babies who died of kidney stones, I can't afford risking to get a small one because of Chinese dairy products. Breaks my heart for the poor farmers who get hurt by loss of sales.

It IS time the authorities set up a reliable body to check food safety, and act immediately when they hear news about trouble (whistleblowers ARE useful) to spread the news and appropriate immediate response themselves instead of waiting for 'uncontrolled rumors' which WILL spread as a measure of the degree of confidence those authorities reach in the general public. Ordinary people will not react in a panic to rumors but talk about it and check if they can: rumors could of course be misinformed or malevolent. What irks me is that food safety warnings now in China come first through rumors then often from outside tests and news, not official warnings, and that's bad. Maybe the authorities ought to beef up their testing and investigative bodies in the food safety department. I am sure they are doing so now, and there HAVE been improvements : in restaurant hygiene...

Every country have food safety troubles, now and then : most post immediately a notice in news, on radio, TV and in stores, so consumers can avoid or return the products, and if necessary, get treatment. I expect China to be able to do the same. Of course, gross malconduct by producers should be severely punished, but accidents or such relatively benign 'plagues' can happen too.

Up till now, I still eat Chinese food with pleasure, together with my family and hope to continue to do so. We just had some wonderfully tasty freshwater crabs yesterday. It's the season now...

Validate your mobile phone number to post comments.