Organic Food in China
Apr 21st, 2007 by LKS
Even before BusinessWeek wrote an article on the dubious practice of sourcing organic foods in China, I had wondered how the industry ensures that farms in far-away lands abide by organic standards. Certainly they can’t send someone long-term to check whether the farm is using pesticides, so they probably have to rely on a local authority or representative.
If that local is a Kiwi in New Zealand, great–they probably have similiar standards as the United States. But if you’re talking about China, whoa. That’s a completely different story.
Why? Because almost everything involving international regulations in China is fake.
In Beijing, there are little paper advertisements stuck everywhere–on lightposts, on advertisements, and especially on perhaps the most stared-at spot in any modern city…the ground.
Now, most of these advertisements are for black market medicine–viagra and stuff like that. But many of them, like the following little advertisement, are a virtual Amazon for anything fake:
Some of the licenses/certificates you can get from this ad include:
1) Marriage Licenses
2) Drivers Licenses
3) Road Maintenance Fee Receipts
4）Outpatient Receipts
5) Chef Licenses
6) Electrician Licenses
7) Welding Licenses
8) English Certificates
9) Personal Identification
10) Business/Registered Corporation Licenses
11) Official Stamps
12) Residency Registers
13) Tickets
14) Visas
15) Passports
16) Accountant Certifications
17) “The newest versions” of personal identification
18) Military License Plates
19) Medical Cards
20) Certificates for Passing Exams
21) Travel Guide Licenses
22) Proof of Savings
23) Account Balance Receipts
24) Receipts and Proof of Savings from all of China’s banks
25) Proof of Insurance
26) Temporary License Plates
27) Medical Insurance Receipts
Needless to say, you can get basically any certificate you need. There’s probably a huge factory somewhere in a rural town that pumps these things out, with the same efficiency that Wenzhou makes socks for Walmart. Tomorrow, you could be certified as an English teacher, married…or the dutiful grower of certified organic vegetables.
If you’re wondering if anybody actually uses fake certificates, if maybe the market is reserved for the economic undergound, and good hard-working people get real licenses…then you’re mostly wrong. It is true that most Chinese do not fake their drivers license, but when it comes to international standards and certifications, it’s a safe bet that 99% of them are fake, just like the DVDs in stores. I visited the factory of a Chinese friend’s husband once, and noted an ISO certification on the wall. I asked him if it was difficult to get ISO certification in China. He looked at the certificate and said,
That? Not at all! We just bought a fake one. Those are just like DVDs here–nobody spends money on realones!
I don’t know how Stonyfield ensures that the strawberries they get from China are certified organic, but I’m willing to bet that if their suppliers come from more than one location, and if they aren’t on hand year-round to certify the organic process, then some farmers are definitely cutting corners on them. “Faking it” makes just too much economic sense in China today.
As for what can you do about it…buy local. That’s the only way to be sure, and that’s the best way to help the environment anyway.
