Word: production
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First, a tainted product emerges, killing some and sickening many more. Its origin is traced to China, where a combination of greed and negligence allow the danger to slip into the food chain. The government downplays or ignores the risks. When the problem becomes so big it can't be denied, leadership orders inspections and promises to punish wrongdoers. The new vigilance leads to other risky products being identified, but officials suggest the problems aren't systemic - just the work of a few bad eggs. The state tightens inspections on imports and finds a few tainted products from overseas...
...That, in brief, could describe the Chinese Product Safety Scandal of 2008. As early as January, infants in China raised on Sanlu brand baby formula began developing kidney problems, and parents raised complaints that were ignored by company and local government officials. When the news finally broke in September, tests found four infants had died and more than 60,000 were sickened from formula tainted with melamine, a chemical used in plastics that can make the protein content of milk - and many other food products - appear higher, and, when consumed, can also cause kidney failure. Expanded inspections found traces...
...other country is as obsessed with novelty as Japan. While product launches in the U.S. are often the stuff of great fanfare and huge p.r. budgets - New Coke, anyone? - endless iterations on an edible theme are the norm in Japan. American beer drinkers partial to Budweiser basically face a binary choice: Bud or Bud Lite, although they might occasionally find such niche-market products as Bud Select or Bud Extra. By contrast, when a Japanese beer drinker goes to buy a can of Asahi at an average convenience store, he has to choose between Super Dry, Premium, Prime Time, Black...
...Ever since post-war Japan tied its economy to innovation, the quest for novelty has assumed frenzied proportions. Most Japanese TV ads for food and drinks incorporate the mantra shin hatsubai, which roughly translates as "new product for sale." Indeed, Japan is the world's speediest economy when it comes to bringing new products to market, according to a study of 31 nations published in the September/October issue of Marketing Science. (Norway was second, with the U.S. ranking sixth.) Even international brands target the insatiable Japanese market differently. Pepsi, for instance, has introduced Japan-only products such as Pepsi White...
...Indeed, the greatest danger to the consumer of the never-ending parade of new Japanese products is developing an attachment to any one snack or beverage. Chances are, you'll soon enough find yourself standing bereft in a convenience store, scanning the shelves for a product that's been replaced by a newer craze. Which currently includes foods boosted with a nutritional supplement derived from pig placenta. Somehow, I just can't imagine that in a cream puff...