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Food scandal rumors and misinformation getting out of hand? by ferujkll sdff
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Food scandal rumors and misinformation getting out of hand? |
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Business,Business News,Business Opportunities
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When you hear of bona fide food safety problems every day, you tendto jump on every rumor out there. I'm just as guilty of thisas the next guy. On the other hand, I think that Coca-Cola was put in a tough spot here: Beverage samples supplied by Coca-Cola Shanxi Beverages Co., Ltd.have been found to be free of chlorine after being analyzedfollowing an allegation of contamination by one of the company semployees, authorities in Shanxi Province said Wednesday. On Tuesday, an anonymous employee of the company told local mediathat nine batches of beverage products had been contaminated withchlorine during a routine pipe maintenance procedure.
The report was disseminated online, leading some retailers torefuse to purchase products from the company. The company respondedby denying the claim, stating that it would ensure its rights inaccordance with the law. So a disgruntled employee makes a complaint (an extraordinarilycommon occurrence), the government feels compelled to act, and thestory gets reported by the media. If I'm Coca-Cola, I'dbe quite upset. However, I'm not sure how to alter thisdynamic.
Although we can criticize the employee, we certainlydon't want to limit the ability of real whistleblowers fromfiling complaints. With respect to the media, we also do not want to limit theirability to report on these kinds of stories, particularly when theyrelate to public safety. Of course, I can't say that I'm all that happy with theeditorial decisions taken by certain organizations to run with astory like this. I suppose it's news when the governmenttests a product that has been alleged to contain unsafeingredients, but I would guess that this kind of thing happens allthe time.
What should be the standard for such reports? Is the allegationsufficient? The government testing? Reported results? The second "food safety" issue, which actually began inthe U.S., not China, involves Starbucks: US cafe chain Starbucks' Chinese subsidiary Sunday admittedthey have used cochineal, a bug-based red dye, in a few foodproducts in their cafes in China. Starbucks China also said that they had not sold any beveragecontaining cochineal in China, and a new strawberry and soy milkfrappuccino they are going to launch will use a red colorant thatmeets the Chinese food safety standard, Beijing Evening Newsreported Sunday. The announcement came after 7,500 American consumer rightsactivists forced the NASDAQ-listed company to stop using cochineal,or carmine, a red dye made from the dried bodies of femalecochineal insects, in its strawberry-flavored drinks in the US lastweek. The news was soon picked up by the Chinese media, at a time whenfood and drug safety issues are racking people's nerves.
I'm more annoyed with the original U.S. activists than thedecision by Chinese media to run the story. Starbucks had alreadychanged their policy in the U.S. over this, so trying to find outwhat they were doing in another market is certainly fair game. That being said, sensationalizing the "crushed bugs"aspect of this is not exactly top shelf journalism.
Apparently oneof the reasons Starbucks (and other companies) use this dye is thatsome synthetic red dyes have been linked to cancer. Moreover, howmany things do we eat or drink that include animal extracts ofwhich we are unaware? The "creepy factor" here iswholly irrational, but it makes for good web traffic and attention. Each of these "scandals" leaves a bad taste in mymouth. I am a professional writer from Health & Medical, which contains a great deal of information about centrum silver vitamins , rock chick vibrator, welcome to visit!
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