Photo Gallery Low Cost, High Danger
A farmer sprays pesticides on cucumber plants in China: From 2005 to 2010, the value of Chinese food exports worldwide almost doubled, increasing to $41 billion (31 billion). And Germany, which imported 1.4 billion worth of food from China last year, is becoming an increasingly important customer.
A worker wearing protective gear prepares to confiscate bottles of a toxic pesticide in China in 2007: As always, the country has quickly adapted to the European market's needs. While it was mostly Chinese specialty foods that were sold in German grocery stores in the past, there is now a growing market for cheap staple goods and prepared ingredients, such as frozen pizzas.
A journalist takes samples from a polluted river in China: Now that they are aware of the harmful effects of pesticides, fertilizers, hormones and antibiotics, some Chinese farmers are reportedly producing a portion of their farm products for the market and a portion for their own families. The only difference is that the food for their families is produced using traditional methods.
Frozen strawberries from China are believed to have triggered a recent outbreak of norovirus that sickened over 11,000 schoolchildren in eastern Germany. Plant-based food products usually enter the EU without any inspection, and the inspection regime for products such as fish, meat and honey is very porous.
