Made in China?

What do you make of the recent scandal that is making the headlines every day?

It is kinda scary to know that at one time or another, we have consumed them.

The current list is this - (It's what I got from the newspapers today)

Banned :
1. Dutch Lady pasteurized strawberry flavoured milk
2. White Rabbit milk candy
3. Yili yoghurt ice bar

On the list of things that are being recalled are M&Ms, Snickers peanut bars, Dove chocolate bars, Oreo wafer sticks, Magnum mini classics ice-cream, Monmilk milk, Walls Mini Poppers ice-cream, Mentos yoghurt bottle, Wall's all-natural mango, Moo sandwich ice-cream, mini Cornetto & Youcan ice-cream. These have not been proven to contain melamine, but are recalled for pre-cautionary measures.

When the first problems with China products came to light, was it last year, starting with White Rabbit candy, I was on the alert. It hit so close to home - these are the things we grew up eating. It's really scary to think when did all this begin. I have been avoiding MIC foodstuff, all kinds, since last year, including fresh fruits, frozen seafood, etc. I make sure always to check the labels. I guess it's only right to be super kiasu and wary of the stuff we put into our mouths. I loved the Moo sandwich ice-creams and thought it was a good ice-cream for kids, till I found out on the back that it is MIC, and that's when I stopped purchasing them. With fruits etc, I mean, how do you know what they add to the soil etc? It's scary to think. I miss my favourite haw flakes, which my little girl also loves, but I guess it's just a little sacrifice that we have to make.

There was also a problem with toys, and imagine a brand name such as Fisher Price being affected, how do we know if the cheap toys that we find being sold everywhere, are safe? I got an email about used condoms being recycled to make cute little hair ties for our girls??? It's gross!

I quote this from the email I received :-

BEIJING (AFP) - Used condoms are being recycled into hair bands in southern China threatening to spread sexually-transmittable diseases they were originally meant to prevent, state media reported Tuesday In the latest example of potentially harmful Chinese-made products, rubber hair bands have been found in local markets and beauty salons in Dongguan and Guangzhou cities in southern Guangdong province, China Daily newspaper said.. 'These cheap and colorful rubber bands and hair ties sell well ...... threatening the health of local people,' it said. Despite being recycled, the hair bands could still contain bacteria and viruses, it said. 'People could be infected with AIDS, (genital) warts or other diseases if they hold the rubber bands or strings in their mouths while waving their hair into plaits or buns,' the paper quoted a local dermatologist who gave only his surname, Dong, as saying. A bag of ten of the recycled bands sells for j ust 25 s en (three cents), much cheaper than others on the market, accounting for their popularity, the paper said. A government official was quoted as saying recycling condoms was illegal. China 's manufacturing industry has been repeatedly tarnished this year by a string of scandals involving shoddy or dangerous goods made for both domestic and foreign markets. In response, it launched a public relations blitz this summer aimed at playing up efforts to strengthen monitoring systems. Check your kids hair bands and make sure they do not put them in their mouth while trying to plait or tie their hair.

An accident waiting to happen

Bottom picture : Notice on the right side of picture is a dangerous piece of thin glass protruding? That is also another danger point. I just thank God she did not run into that.

I know these pictures aren't very good at emphasizing our point. You have to be physically there to see it for yourself. From a distance, this looked like the entrance to a certain boutique in Marina Square, right beside the Starbuck's cafe. Mum and I were interested in going in to take a look at what the shop had to offer. So we were both headed this way, thinking that it was the way in, but when we went close enough to it, both realized that it was actually a window pane, which resembled very much the shop's entrance. The actual point of entry was around a corner to the right of this picture.

While browsing, we heard a very loud bang, and mum wondered what the sound could be. I had just walked past the pane on the inside of the shop, and having realised what could have happened, knew at once that princess was the one who would most likely have been on the opposite of said glass pane. I was right of course, and she had run smack right into it. Mum and I were discussing at length before that, the danger of the pane which gave no indication that it was there. There were no warning signs or those strips which show you clearly that you can't go through there. I am not saying she wasn't at fault at all for having made that run, but if there had been more visible signs, the accident could have been prevented.

I went out immediately to princess who had gone back to her daddy by then, and she was visibly upset, I think more from the shock of it than the actual pain itself. A pinkish hue had started forming on her left cheek. I was pissed! I got hubs to go sort it out and was dragging princess to the shop to show them what had happened to her face. She refused to go and pulled me back. I believe it was more to do with embarrassment. I left her with grandma who calmed her down, and followed hubs into the boutique. By that time, the manager had been called and he was already with hubs. I didn't know that as I was a few minutes behind, so I said it to a certain guy, E, that I wanted the contact for the person higher in authority to the store manager. His reply was that the manager was already with the hubs, and that 'we ARE already trying to solve the matter'. The pompousness of his attitude, not at all apologetic that an accident such as this had happened and in his words as told to mum 'it's happened many times'.

Hubs took the store manager out to where it had happened and the manager said it didn't look like an entrance. Well, of course he'd say that. He knew the store inside out. We are talking about a little child here. How could she judge that it wasn't one? Even we adults initially mistook it for one. His rationale was that it was designed by their Italian designers to give full exposure to the shop and for the public to be better able to view the interior from the outside. A few metres away is a very famous boutique which has the same kind of frontage but had put a full window display area which didn't prohibit the customer from taking a peek in, so I don't see their point of argument.

After getting the contact numbers of both the manager as well as the MD, we gave princess a treat of ice-cream, as requested by her. While there, I noticed that her eyebrow had turned a light shade, as if the hair had gone off a little. I then realized that there was a swelling on the brow so it had spread the brow hair a bit and it looked like it had been shaved off.

We decided to take her to see the doctor as it was the brow bone which had taken the greatest impact. If it had been just the cheek, I would have left it. I wasn't about to take a risk on the eye area. Some people might think it's being kiasu, but I think it's better to be safe than sorry.

The MD was communicating to hubs throughout that afternoon and was even offering to send her a 'get well' basket. I told him to just say it to her thanks for her thoughts but it wasn't necessary. We did not make a big hooha to get benefits out of it. What we want is for them to make that area safe. As hubs says, one accident is one too many.

We have not gotten any email replies from her as she does not want to commit herself due to the legal aspect of the case but we do need to see some proof and some pictures to show that the problem has been resolved or else we'll just take our case to the newspapers. I find that oftentimes when the Straits Times is involved, we often get a solution to the matter.

Instant toxics

I unashamedly borrowed this post from fellow blogger Bozo. I think it's something worth sharing since lots of us eat lots of instant noodles. It's good to be aware.

"I was shocked to read the following about cooking instant noodles in an email sent by a friend. Imagine how much toxics we have consumed even though we have followed the instructions on the packaging of the instant noodles?

Normally, we cook the instant noodles by putting the noodles into a pot with water, throw in the powder and let it cook for 3 mins. This is the WRONG method of cooking the instant noodles. By doing this, when we actually boil the ingredients in the powder, normally with MSG, it will change the molecular structures of the MSG causing it to be toxic.

The other thing that you may or may not realize is that, the noodles are coated with wax and it will take around 4 to 5 days for the body to excrete the wax after you have taken the noodles.

So the CORRECT method, to cook the noodles are as follows:-

1. Boil the noodles in a pot with water.
2. Once the noodles are cooked, take out the noodles, and throw away the water which contains wax.
3. Boil another pot of water till boiling and put the noodles into the hot boiling water and then turn off the flame.
4. Only at this stage when the flame is off, and while the water is very hot, put the ingredients with the powder into the water, to make the noodle soup.
5. However, if you need dry noodles, take out the noodles and add the ingredients with the powder and toss it to get dry noodles.

Hope this piece of information is of importance to your health in relation to eating instant noodles and please apply this cooking method with immediate effect."

Help & Wooden Chopsticks

I need to learn how to split my photos in the posts. They just lump together. Have tried many ways but just can't seem to do it. :( Hope someone who reads this can help me.

On another note, I wonder how many of you have heard about the contaminated disposable chopsticks we use in hawker centres and food courts, or even when we 'da bao' (take away) something from a food outlet. I heard it from a Taiwanese friend last year and have since done without it. But I didn't know exactly the cause of it.

So anyway, my mum heard it over the radio last week that they are totally unsafe to use. They soak them in some chemical which is harmful to our health, then leave them out in the open to dry and children and animal pee on them etc. Tests were done and traces of faeces were found. They are then shipped to Taiwan where they are packed using bare hands.

It's also not good for the environment as many bamboo trees are destroyed in the manufacturing these chopsticks. Maybe the next time when you visit the food court, think about this and opt for the non-disposable ones. I used to prefer the disposables to the ones the food places provide thinking they were more hygienic as they were individually packed in plastics. Well, not anymore, I've stopped using disposables. Better still, bring your own.

Mattel Recall

Mothers beware!!!

I'm sure by now most of you would have heard about the recall of a long list of toys manufactured by Mattel in China with excessive lead in paint as well as magnets in some.

Sad to say I have many Polly Pockets sets and 4 of them are affected. Decided to post the link to lists of affected products here as there's a little trouble trying to locate them, especially if you want the ones with photos attached. Most by now would have thrown out the boxes that the toys came in and do not have the serial numbers of the products. The pictures will help greatly.

1. List of Polly Pocket and Batman

2. List of Fisher Price, Dora the Explorer

3. Barbie® Doll and Tanner™ sets

4. Sarge in 'Cars' Pizar Film

This is the list released by Singapore Mattel :

Recall list of affected toys in Singapore


Mattel Care Line
(Monday - Friday: 9 am - 5 pm):
Tel : +65 - 6235 - 0667