China’s Shuanghui to buy US pork producer for $4.7bn [BBC] #RisingChina #FoodSupply

Henan-based Shuanghui Group 双汇集团 in the works to buy the world’s biggest producer of pork to feed the world’s biggest consumer of the meat.

Also –
China’s Shanghai river pig toll nears 6,000 (BBC, March 13, 2013)

– – –

China’s Shuanghui to buy US pork producer for $4.7bn
Source – BBC, published May 30, 2013

China’s Shuanghui International plans to buy US pork producer Smithfield Foods for $4.7bn (£3.1bn) to meet the country’s rising demand for meat.

Shuanghui, which is China’s biggest pork producer, is offering to pay for the company in cash.

The deal, if approved, will be the largest takeover of a US company by a Chinese rival.

Filed under: BBC, Beijing Consensus, Bird Flu, Charm Offensive, China Dream, Chinese Model, Domestic Growth, Economics, Environment, Finance, Food, Health, Influence, International Relations, Modernisation, Public Diplomacy, Reform, Resources, Social, Soft Power, Strategy, Tao Guang Yang Hui (韬光养晦), The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Trade, U.S.

Rat Meat Sold as Lamb Highlights Fear in China [New York Times] #RisingChina #FoodSafety

Evidence not all Chinese are positioned to participate in China’s rise as part of a collective leap.

“Food safety and environmental protection face the same problem that although regulatory capacity has expanded, there’s been no fundamental change for the better… The fact that the police have become involved shows how serious the problems still are.” Mao Shoulong, professor of public policy at Renmin University in Beijing

To read the actual Ministry of Public Security report please go here (In Chinese)
公安机关集中打击肉制品犯罪保卫餐桌安全

– – –

Rat Meat Sold as Lamb Highlights Fear in China
By Chris Buckley
Source – New York Times, published May 3, 2013

HONG KONG — Even for China’s scandal-numbed diners, inured to endless outrages about food hazards, news that the lamb simmering in the pot may actually be rat tested new depths of disgust.

In an announcement intended to show that the government is serious about improving food safety, the Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday that the police had caught a gang of traders in eastern China who bought rat, fox and mink flesh and sold it as mutton. But that and other cases of meat smuggling, faking and adulteration featured in Chinese newspapers and Web sites on Friday were unlikely to instill confidence in consumers already queasy over many reports about meat, fruit and vegetables laden with disease, toxins, banned dyes and preservatives.

Sixty-three people were arrested and accused of “buying fox, mink and rat and other meat products that had not undergone inspection,” which they doused in gelatin, red pigment and nitrates, and sold as mutton in Shanghai and adjacent Jiangsu Province for about $1.6 million, according to the ministry’s statement. The report, posted on the Internet, did not explain how exactly the traders acquired the rats and other creatures.

“How many rats does it take to put together a sheep?” said one typically baffled and angry user of Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblog service that often acts as a forum for public venting. “Is it cheaper to raise rats than sheep?”

Please click here to read the full article at its source.

Filed under: 52 Unacceptable Practices, Beijing Consensus, Bird Flu, China Dream, Chinese Model, Collectivism, Corruption, Crime, Culture, Domestic Growth, Economics, Government & Policy, Health, Infrastructure, Mapping Feelings, Modernisation, New Leadership, Peaceful Development, Poverty, Reform, Resources, The Chinese Identity

Virus shows China’s progress and limitations [Global Times] #RisingChina #H7N9 #Healthcare

A decade on since the pre-Internet-savvy Chinese decision makers miscalculated with SARs, this demonstrates the new leadership’s effectiveness, despite their Boao engagements.

This Global Times argues that the victory on information transparency is just that. China has real teething issues with health care human resources. Affordable health insurance provided by the state has kicked in, yes. But complaints about the lack of doctors resonated every corner I traveled in China. Queues are long.

The country’s complex conditions are on full display as the disease spreads. China has first-rate labs, but it also has limited healthcare infrastructure, especially in rural areas. Some have pointed out that although theoretically the hospital bills for H7N9 victims should be paid by the government, emergency treatment funds and healthcare support channels are still lacking. (Global Times, April 7, 2013)

– – –

Virus shows China’s progress and limitations
By Chen Chenchen
Source – Global Times, published April 7, 2013

The rising number of identified human cases of the H7N9 virus in China has put some other countries and regions on alert, though experts believe the chance of a global epidemic is still low. However, international opinion seems to have acknowledged “significant changes” in China’s response to disease outbreaks.

Gregory Hartl, a World Health Organization spokesman, praised the Chinese response, including immediate reporting and information volunteering, as “excellent.” Since SARS, the public health debacle that occurred one decade ago, China has reformed its epidemic handling system, especially infection reporting and tracking mechanisms. Experts from US health agencies believe the close cooperation with their Chinese counterparts in recent years has helped a lot in terms of China’s flu monitoring and lab testing.

This public health reform is due to changes in the mentality of governing bodies. The top leadership has promised transparency in virus reporting. This has been judged by China’s observers to be a new way of thinking which is more open and effective in maintaining social stability.

Please click here to read the rest of the article at its source.

Filed under: Beijing Consensus, Bird Flu, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Communications, Domestic Growth, Environment, global times, Government & Policy, Health, Infrastructure, Modernisation, Politics, Population, Reform, Social, The Chinese Identity

Shanghai starts culling fowl [China Daily] #China #BirdFlu2013

Not leaving it to chance. The Chinese act decisively after promising transparency yesterday.

– – –

Shanghai starts culling fowl
By YU RAN in Shanghai
Source – China Daily, published April 6, 2013

No sign seen of human-to-human transmission of H7N9 bird flu

Technicians wearing protection suits begin to cull fowl early on Friday at a poultry wholesale market in the Songjiang district of Shanghai where the H7N9 bird flu virus was detected in pigeon samples. Photo by Liu Xin / For China Daily

All live poultry markets in Shanghai will be closed from Saturday after H7N9 bird flu virus was found in pigeon samples from a farm product market in the Songjiang district, the municipal government announced on Friday.

Early on Friday morning, 20,536 birds were slaughtered at the Huhuai wholesale market, where the infected pigeons were found the day before.

To date, the city has reported six cases of H7N9 bird flu, and four people have died from the virus. The other two, an adult and a 4-year-old boy, remain in a hospital.

Filed under: Bird Flu, Charm Offensive, China Daily, Chinese Model, Communications, Disaster, Domestic Growth, Environment, Government & Policy, Health, Infrastructure, New Leadership, Population, Public Diplomacy, Reform, Resources