Food safety concerns in China continue

After 2008’s melamine-tainted milk scandal and more recent cases, including exploding watermelons and harmful additives in beef, food safety has become a top priority for the Chinese government.

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May 12, 2011

A Chinese farmer shows off the exploded watermelons at a farm in Zhenjiang, east China's Jiangsu province. A bizarre wave of exploding watermelons — possibly due to farmers' abuse of a growth-boosting chemical — has once again spotlighted safety fears plaguing China's poorly regulated food sector.

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Aug. 4, 2011

Chinese cookies are displayed for sale at a street restaurant in Beijing. China has arrested around 2,000 people in a major crackdown on illegal food additives, the government said, after a wave of contamination scares.

Mark Ralston / AFP/Getty Images

April 25, 2011

China launched the campaign in April following a spate of tainted food scandals — included pork found on the market so loaded with bacteria that it reportedly glowed in the dark. Nearly six million food businesses have now been investigated and more than 4,900 shut down for "illegal practices," the government's Food Safety Commission said in a statement.

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Aug. 4, 2011

A Chinese woman arranges vegetables for sale at a street market in Beijing. Some vegetables have been contaminated with pesticides and other chemicals because rural farmers often don't understand the harmful effects on humans, according to experts.

Mark Ralston / AFP/Getty Images

April 25, 2011

Different types of food additives have been used to do everything from accelerating muscle-building in swine to making pork taste more like beef.

/ AFP/Getty Images

Aug. 4, 2011

Tainted meat can find its way into a variety of food products, such as dumplings.

Mark Ralston / AFP/Getty Images

Feb. 25, 2009

Authorities have discovered cases of chemical sweeteners and yellow coloring being added to stale steam buns and repackaged as new. In a previous food scare, Chinese state media reported that a central food safety commission would be established to help cut down on the country's repeated scandals involving dangerous food products.

Liu Jin / AFP/Getty Images

April 25, 2011

Opium poppy plant shells were a popular ingredient used in now banned Chinese hotpot sauce.

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Aug. 9, 2010

A Chinese baby plays beside tins of milk powder on sale at a supermarket in Beijing, after parents and doctors expressed fears that hormones in Synutra had caused babies to develop breasts prematurely. China's health ministry said it had ordered food safety authorities in central Hubei province to investigate claims that milk powder has caused infant girls to grow breasts.

/ AFP/Getty Images

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