Cuisine plays a critical role in holidays like the Chinese New Year, and connects closely to most Chinese celebrations. Parties feature an abundance of food in family-style dishes. People are encouraged to share, unlike the more individual plates seen on American tables.
"No people on earth are so engrossed in food as the Chinese, for whom it is not just craft, pleasure and sustenance but the fundamental building block of society," wrote Jeff Yang in an editorial for sfgate.com, the Web site for the San Francisco Chronicle. "So for the Chinese, tainted food is more than a health hazard -- it's a kind of sacrilege."
For their part, the Chinese believe they have taken food and drug safety seriously. The former official in charge of the country's food safety was executed earlier this month after he was found guilty of accepting more than $800,000 worth of bribes to overlook some of the country's food safety problems.
"They'd be better off hiring 20 more and firing that guy and training them properly," Krauss said. He added it behooves the United States to aid the Chinese in making a better system , rather than disseminating articles about tainted food and promoting stereotypes.
But Wong said the swift action was a sign the developing nation with the world's third biggest economy was feeling pressure from the global market.
Krauss noted China was likely not the only country with such a problem.
India had black pepper tainted with salmonella, and some Mexican crabmeat has been found to be too filthy to eat. Even Denmark had an incident in which its candy was mislabeled. And according to the Food and Drug Administration, U.S. inspectors have stopped more shipments from India and Mexico in the last year than they had from China.
Last month, a California-based United Food Group voluntarily recalled approximately 75,000 pounds of ground beef products because they may have been contaminated with E. coli. The beef was distributed in the Western United States and came from American suppliers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Utah, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
But those facts don't alleviate the fears of a backlash that business owners who sell Chinese food products are likely to feel. The attention will affect more than just Asian-themed and Asian-owned restaurants but also Asian grocers, Wong said.
Krauss, the owner of China 1 Antique Lounge, said he hopes customers will keep the recent problems in perspective.
"If you put the microscope to other exporters, you'd probably start finding tainted goods," Krauss said.
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