And now, scandal over tainted olive oil
- By Mei Xinyu
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E-mail Shanghai Daily, February 3, 2012
No sooner had the dust from the latest twists of the DaVinci fake furniture scandal settled than a deluxe "Italian" product was in trouble again, sending yet another warning to fans of foreign brands.
China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine ordered on January 5 that all its regional branches strictly screen olive oil imported from Italy for safety.
The watchdog also immediately summoned Italian Embassy official in China. What triggered the alarm?
The cause is the revelation by some foreign media that Italian police had busted a fraud of making and selling adulterated olive oil.
Thirteen of the country's largest olive oil manufacturers were found to be purchasing cheap raw olive oil wholesale from Greece, Spain, Tunisia and Morocco, reprocessing it, and then bottling and labeling it as authentic, premium Italian products.
The bogus Italian oil makes up 80 percent of the country's annual production. More disturbing is the fact that quite a few reputable brands were involved in the racket.
Avid buyer
Since such racket has grown dramatically in scale, Italy as a major producer of olive oil is now a chief buyer, with imports almost twice its exports. It imports 470,000 tons of olive oil annually.
China has been an increasingly enthusiastic buyer of Italian olive oil, whose share of all imported oil rose to 35.7 percent in 2010, triple the amount in 2009, statistics show. Italy is well on its way to knocking out Spain as the No.1 exporter of olive oil to China.
The expose about the olive oil fraud should've stung some shoppers, for it was not the first time that foreign products, ranging from food to cosmetics to clothing, have failed quality tests.
And neither was tainted Italian oil a first-time offender. In a notice issued last July, the state quality watchdog said two batches of Italian olive oil on Chinese market tested positive for excessive peroxide levels. An elevated peroxide reading indicates that the oil has become rancid, and could result in ailments like diarrhea if consumed. The substandard products were later recalled.
It's tempting for a few unscrupulous food exporters and their Chinese middlemen to rip off Chinese consumers, many of whom are rich, undiscerning and blindly trust foreign brands.
Their ostentatious consumption is driven by the desire to distinguish themselves from the masses with a sense of exclusivity afforded by their purchases.
Although they have more than once fallen prey to predatory sellers, many still go ape over luxury items of foreign origins. Furthermore, they openly argue for reduced import duties on luxuries in the name of "expanding domestic demand" and "improving livelihoods."
One can only be vigilant against such pleas while sighing at the insanity of conspicuous consumption.
Should our trade policy be aimed at satisfying the essential needs of people's lives and socioeconomic growth, or tailor-made to the contentment of a handful of irrational shoppers?
It's thus not entirely a bad thing to hear of the fraud, for it again reminded some people of the perils of their cult of foreign brands.
For many, however, rationality is elusive. They are likely to persist in the fetish of foreign things no matter the price.
Personally I buy what I need, not what I can show off. Conspicuous consumption is a silly thing.
That said, as long as China's trade policy isn't hijacked by unjustifiable demands of irrational shoppers, and they are rightfully made to pay more for their exotic purchases, a few rip-offs are but an acceptable price to pay.
The author is a senior researcher at the Ministry of Commerce. The views are his own. Shanghai Daily reporter Ni Tao translated his article from the Chinese.
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