Do You Know Who Your Next Meal Is Coming From?

"Made in China."

Suddenly, they're the three most alarming words in the English language.

Go to any big box store, supermarket, toy shop: When you weren't paying attention (but enjoying the bargains), everything became Made in China, or made with stuff that's made in China, or made with stuff-that's-made-with-stuff that's made in China.

Nixon shook hands with Mao; deals were cut; investments invested. Beijing got the 2008 Olympics; Shanghai got hundreds of glittering skyscrapers. Now some of our American flags are made in China, and half of our garlic, and something like 40 percent of our apple juice and 19 percent of our honey and 70 percent of our toys and 80 percent of our Vitamin C.

Also, diethylene glycol. That's the industrial antifreeze found in toothpaste imported from China.

And nitrofuran, malachite green, gentian violet -- all three of which are known to be carcinogenic -- and fluoroquinolone. These are antimicrobial agents used by the Chinese aquaculture industry, triggering a ban by the Food and Drug Administration late last month on five types of Chinese seafood.

And of course, melamine. That's C3H6N6for those wanting the molecular makeup. It's an industrial plastic that found its way into canned pet food in the United States earlier this year, triggering the recall of 60 million cans.

"These commodities are flowing in our society essentially unchecked," says former FDA associate commissioner William Hubbard. "We're gambling. Because no one's looking at this stuff!"

Not many people, at least. The FDA says it has 625 field inspectors eyeballing food across the country; they manage to scrutinize about 1 percent of imports. But the number of inspectors has dropped in recent years even as an increasing percentage of our food -- about 13 percent by one recent estimate -- comes from foreign countries, many lacking strict regulation. China has millions of small producers making food and chemicals for the global market. "As a developing country, China's food and drug supervision work began late and its foundations are weak," said Yan Jiangying, the candid spokeswoman for China's food and drug agency. "Therefore, the food and drug safety situation is not something we can be optimistic about."

And now this: Buns stuffed with cardboard.

"A hidden camera followed the man into a ramshackle building where steamers were filled with the fluffy white buns, called baozi, traditionally stuffed with minced pork," reports the Associated Press, summarizing a Chinese television news program. "It showed how cardboard [!!!!!] was first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda -- a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap -- then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning were stirred in as flavoring and the concoction was stuffed into the buns."

The Chinese government has vowed to crack down on shady operators. It has to salvage the image of the China brand. The public relations strategy includes both defense and offense: Just yesterday, China banned meat imports from seven American companies, citing contamination by salmonella and chemical additives.