Shanghai, China: Product and Food Safety

Written May 12, 2008

Well, this blog entry will break new ground for me. I'm writing it with my Blackberry while striding up and down on a stair stepper in a health club overlooking Shanghai, China. Before you jump to any conclusions about my accuracy with thumbs, be aware I'm going to send this draft to my colleague in Washington and have her clean up my double letters and typos. With the day’s schedule it is likely the best, perhaps only, opportunity I will have.

Yesterday, I gave a speech to about 800 representatives of manufacturing companies from around the world who supply a major retailer in the United States, the Target Corporation. It was a significant chance to once again send the message that if producers desire access to American consumers; they will have to meet American standards.

I spent the afternoon with a local office of the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ), a rough equivalent of a Chinese Customs and Border Protection. This is the entity in the Chinese government with specific responsibility for the safety and quality of imported and exported food. The people I met with had spent a significant amount of time in the United States, and understood our processes reasonably well. A half day is long enough to learn some essential facts, but not enough to draw conclusions. Most seaports have a similar feel around the world. Actually, most of the large unloading cranes are made in Shanghai.

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt joined by Chinese inspectors looks at chicken shipped from the U S to the Port of Shanghai China's largest port

Not surprisingly, the Chinese see our concerns about the safety of food imports differently than we do. They repeatedly mentioned they require certificates before goods are shipped out of China, and point out we don't. They also want us to accept AQSIQ certificates as proof of the safety for Chinese food exports to the United States. I won't take that on in a blog, but it does indicate why it is important to understand the perspective of others. One learns a lot being able to talk with people on the ground.

I'm not going to get into a travel log, but there are a couple of observations worth making. This is an amazing city: incredibly vibrant and modern.

The Chinese are serious city-builders. They do infrastructure faster than anybody in the world, I think. They can just throw so many people at projects, and exercise such absolute social control, that they can move in a way that gives them a significant comparative advantage. In making that statement, I do not discount the negative environmental compromises, or the impact on human beings, but they have a clear set of priorities, and when they decide to move, things happen.

For example, they are building 150 miles of subway within the city in the next two years. Compare that to Boston’s Big Dig.

They decided to build a deep-water port about 18 miles off the shore of Shanghai on some islands. In order to get the goods from the port to the mainland, they needed a causeway. It will take them three years to build the causeway. It would take more than three years in the United States just to scope the work.

I was at the port when the earthquake struck. It was felt in the upper floors of our hotel, but not at the port. I visited the area of the earthquake last December. I am checking in at the White House to see if there are ways I can be helpful on behalf of the United States, and when I meet with the Minister of Health later today [Wednesday, May 13], I will express my condolences from all Americans for the loss of life here.

The disasters here and in Burma are frightening examples of how vulnerable we are as human beings.

Today, I'll visit a hospital and school of traditional medicine, and meet with a large group of students. Tomorrow, I'll meet with American businesses in Shanghai to discuss product safety, before I leave for Beijing.

Comments

Good morning Sec'y Leavitt et al. Up early this morning to do some outdoor chores before the temperature goes over 100 degrees today. Mike, in case you have not heard we are having a heat wave across much of the U.S.
Now back to commentary about China.
I have heard from a number of sources that one reason work and products from China are "shoddy" or unsafe is that the large retailers often do the "low bid" routine, pressuring the manufacturers to skrimp and save.
Perhaps the manufacturers bear a large part of the problem by not specifying the standards, and design parameters as well as material specs PRIOR to manufacturing.It's pretty simple really. Don't pass the buck.

Posted by: Gary Levin | May 18, 2008 at 10:17 AM

As someone who has just been getting into ordering goods from China i'm always interested in any news I can get from people who have travelled there and have seen the conditions on the ground.

it's the future people, get used to it.

Posted by: Ken Morris | May 20, 2008 at 03:27 PM

I am delighted to see that Secretary Leavitt met with the General Administration of Quality Supervision to discuss exported food into the United States. I believe this is a very serious issue which needs to be addressed on a regular basis.

Posted by: Vectorpedia (Rick) | May 30, 2008 at 04:38 PM