In autumn 2012, it was first shown to the general public. Food from China has long been omnipresent in our country. You can find it in the catering industry, in large kitchens and at wholesalers. Often it does not say 'China', but it is definitively Chinese. Because only the producer has to be named, indicating its origin. And these are very often based in Germany or Holland.
In October, 2012, 11,000 students in eastern Germany fell ill with heavy diarrhea. For days, the Noro-virus raged on, making headlines even beyond Germany's borders. People were very upset when the cause of this epidemic became known. It was strawberries from China. A catering company that supplied countless school canteens had cheaply imported the strawberries from the People's Republic. The indignation was great and since then, horror stories about contaminated food from China are rampant, especially on various Internet forums.
In fact, most of them do not stand up to a reality check. Of course, in order to import food into the EU, strict EU directives must be met. According to reports from the EU Food Safety Authority (EFSA), China is in broad society as far as samples are concerned. Food from Turkey is checked four times as often. And products from South Africa, Egypt or Kenya are criticized as often as those from China. This does not change the fact that still about every sixth sample of Chinese food is rejected by EU food handlers. However, the biggest dangers do not lie within the original product, but in the long transport routes. But as long as consumers expect all fruits and vegetables to be available at all times, this situation will not change much.
As far as Chinese strawberries are concerned, they rarely end up as whole fruits in school canteens. They are usually found in fruit yogurts, frozen strawberry dumplings or in frozen foods. The same goes for apples. China is the largest apple producer in the world. In the past, these apples mainly ended up on the world market as apple juice concentrate, subsequently landing on American and European supermarket shelves. China covers half of the world's demand for apple juice concentrate. 70 percent of the apple juice consumed in the United States comes from China. The USA is in second place in terms of world production.
Source: Die Presse