22 August 2007

Quick and Dirty

Well, it's a start... I guess.
-- BEIJING, Aug 22 (Reuters) -- A Beijing factory sold up to 100,000 pairs of disposable chopsticks a day without any form of disinfection, a newspaper said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of food and product safety scares.

Officials raided the factory and seized about half a million pairs of disposable bamboo chopsticks and a packaging machine, the Beijing News said in a story headlined "Dirty Chopsticks".
**********

RELATED: One step forward, two steps back
-- WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND -- Chinese-made blankets containing high levels of formaldehyde have been recalled across Australia and New Zealand, the distributor said Wednesday, amid rising global concern over the safety of products from China.

Formaldehyde — a chemical preservative that gives a permanent press effect to clothes and is also used as an embalming fluid — can cause problems ranging from skin rashes to cancer.