Finally a story about food production in China that brings chuckles, not fear and panic. This video is funny because it involves exploding melons. Overzealous farmers used a growth accelerator called forchlorfenuron (a legal substance) too late in the season which made their whole crop of melons burst.
Gallagher must be inconsolable.
]
On a more serious note, some papers
are saying that because stories like these are becoming more frequent,
it indicates that the
government-controlled Chinese media is getting serious in trying to stem
the problem by exposing them. This month alone brought to light more abuses, like pork tampered with a
steroid which makes pigs leaner and sodium borate that disguises it to
look like more expensive beef.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.