Some Comparison, Please

The tainted food supply coming from China has been mounting into bigger and bigger news. It is a serious problem that looks like it has spread well beyond the pet food supply. When the news reports on this issue, though, they use a lot of borderline bigoted statements that aren't backed up by good comparative data.

NPR was reporting numbers of food-related deaths each year in China. How does the U.S. compare? E. coli has been in the media as of late, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. And even when these numbers are provided, are they reported deaths or estimated deaths based on some organization's calculations?

The radio also made much of the unreliability of food suppliers in China. They spoke of cultural and business problems, implying that the Chinese just haven't come around to a "proper" attitude yet. But lets get some numbers. What agencies are there in China? What are their guidelines and enforcement powers? And, most importantly, how does food safety regulation compare to the U.S.? This one is particularly important, because over the last decade or more the FDA has moved to a "self-monitoring" model where companies are expected to inspect themselves. The FDA inspectors then come in and just look at the data the company has already assembled. The FDA does not have the power to recall certain food items, but must "shame" the company into doing it voluntarily.

There is little reason to doubt that food safety is not up to acceptable standards in China, but it would be important to point out how inadequate they are here, as well. The complaint about the fraud and incentive for corruption in China's food industry needs to be compared and contrasted against the same situation here. Serious economic analysis is missing, and not expected soon.