China's oranges suspected of maggot infestation

Mandarin oranges, possibly in the millions of pounds, have been destroyed in China on suspicions they were infested with fruit fly maggots, according to a new report.

The product contamination problem would be just the latest in a long list of problem products from China on which WND has reported. Previous problems have been uncovered by U.S. authorities in dried apples, peaches, pears, mushrooms, olives, fish, ginseng, red raspberry crumble and other products.

And China still is reeling over the recent discovery of melamine in milk, a problem that already has been blamed for the deaths of several infants, and the finding that melamine also has been discovered in eggs because of its insertion into the food chain.

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Now, according to a report in the UK Telegraph, tens of thousands of tons of mandarin oranges have been destroyed in the last few weeks.

The newspaper cited reports from "state media" in revealing the problem.

The report said health inspectors in Shanghai are testing to see if the problem has spread to farmed fish.

According to state media, a farm in the southwestern corner of China reported its crop of mandarin oranges had failed on September 21. The fruit fly diagnosis came a short time later, the report said.

Surveys found orchards across major mandarin-producing regions were affect, but the report said authorities failed to publicly confirm the problem until October 4.

According to the Telegraph, officials even then tried to explain away the problem as being local.

Government officials continue to decline to release full loss figures, the newspaper said, but it cited an estimate for the trouble in one province alone at about a quarter of a billion dollars.

The Telegraph said the new contamination problem comes as China still is trying to recover from reports that batches of eggs were found to be tainted in melamine, a chemical that apparently had been added to chicken feed.

And reports say thousands of babies continue to receive treatment for poisoning by the chemical, which was added to food to improve protein content.

WND previously has reported on frozen catfish from China found to have been laced with banned antibiotics and scallops and sardines coated with bacteria.

Chinese toothpaste also has been found by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to have contained a deadly chemical used in antifreeze.

In one recently resolved case, four defendants pleaded guilty to importing from China more than a half million tubes of toothpaste falsely labeled as the popular brand Colgate that contained the toxic antifreeze ingredient.

According to a U.S. Department of Justice statement, the defendants were responsible for 518,028 tubes of toothpaste worth an estimated $730,419 that were shipped into the country and distributed to bargain retail stores in several states last year.

Chinese imports have been blamed for poisoning America's pets, risking America's human food supply and reintroducing lead poisoning to America's children.

 

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