Are strawberries poisonous?

Are strawberries poisonous? Please read the following article and you will know the answer clearly.

Are strawberries poisonous?

The preliminary results of the investigation by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine have come out, and the question has been thrown to the German investigation agency again. The truth will eventually come to light, but people's anxiety and uneasiness go far beyond this.

In recent years, China's food safety has experienced crisis after crisis. Toxic milk powder, poisonous bean sprouts, poisonous apples...

Behind this "crisis everywhere" is a deep-rooted "trust crisis". Such a crisis has not only become an unstable factor in the hearts of Chinese companies and people, but has also been criticized by some trading countries with harsh eyes. Zhang Lei, a reporter from Luzhong Morning News, reported on the debate caused by the "poisonous strawberries" in Qingdao. "Recently, this "plague" has indeed caused quite a stir here. Locals are talking about Chinese food, and it has also caused a large-scale discussion about school catering..." On November 15, the reporter talked about the "strawberry poisoning" incident with Liu Ning in Berlin, Germany through QQ.

Liu Ning is an international student at the Technical University of Berlin, and this incident happened to her. "In the restaurant where I work, a chef's child was "poisoned". When he told us about this, I felt very bad." Liu Ning said that she learned that the students who fell ill in this incident were given a voucher worth 50 euros as compensation, which can be exchanged for school supplies, given by Sodexo.

Liu Ning said that the German authorities have ordered the recall of all frozen strawberries from China and are conducting further analysis and testing on them to find conclusive evidence that they are the cause of food poisoning. "Here, some people think that fresh fruits in the areas around the schools are too expensive to buy, so they have to get these "cheap harmful foods" from thousands of kilometers away. In their view, this is a scandal." Liu Ning, who is in Germany, is not sure whether the strawberries in his country are really poisonous. Instead, he asked the reporter: "Is it true what they say about poisonousness?"

She said that in fact, all kinds of fruits are available in local supermarkets all year round, and imported fruits are common in Germany. "In fact, some people think that the food chain is prone to problems when frozen fruits are shipped all the way to Germany. If the disease is caused simply by poor hygiene conditions, then it doesn't matter where the food is produced, whether it is produced in China, West Africa or Germany, there may be problems."

However, this rational voice was drowned out by the overwhelming doubts. "They just think that Chinese food is unsafe. This may be a habitual way of thinking..." Liu Ning said helplessly. Is Chinese strawberry a "scapegoat"? "The evidence must be conclusive, but when the conclusion of the investigation is not clear, the German media has pushed the responsibility to China. In this matter, some media cater to the psychology of the audience and use it to attract attention, while some politicians use it to write blank checks to voters and gain political capital."

Xue Chengjun is from Shandong. The strawberry poisoning incident involves the reputation of enterprises in his hometown. He works for the well-known German media "Deutsche Welle" and is very dissatisfied with the hasty conclusions of the German media. "Recently, some German politicians have come out to criticize why frozen strawberries are imported from China? Why not let children eat local fresh strawberries? In fact, they know very well that there is a huge difference in economic and living standards between the east and west of Germany. If children living in the east can eat fresh strawberries like children living in the west, then will they still eat frozen strawberries imported from any country? Importing from China is because Chinese products are good quality and cheap, especially exported products. This reflects the problem of unbalanced development between the east and west of Germany, the problem of inconsistent inspection standards in various states, and the inadequate supervision of relevant departments. "

Xue Chengjun believes that, to some extent, the so-called Chinese "poisonous strawberries" are nothing more than a gimmick and a scapegoat for many problems. "Currently, the media and people are focusing mainly on frozen strawberries imported from China. For a time, the safety and quality of Chinese strawberries and other Chinese foods and even Chinese products have once again been questioned by the German people. A typical example is the toxic milk powder incident a few years ago, which not only dealt a nearly devastating blow to China's dairy industry, but also allowed foreign companies to successfully squeeze Chinese dairy products out of the international market and successfully seize a large tract of the coveted Chinese market. It also caused a very bad impact on the international reputation of Chinese products." Xue Chengjun said, "We should treat this so-called "toxic strawberry" incident in a pragmatic manner, correct our mistakes if there are any, and be calm if there are none, do our own things seriously, and strive to improve the quality of our products. No matter what the media says, no matter what politicians think, especially the Chinese people, they should have a scale in their hearts." "Chinese food" under tinted glasses "Reputation is as precious as life for companies and businesses. It takes 20 years to win a good reputation, but only 5 minutes to ruin it..." Zhang Tongyu, the person in charge of a food company in Pingdu City, Qingdao, told reporters on October 11. His concerns in this incident stem from the "Taiwanese milk tea causes cancer" incident which also occurred in Germany this year. Just like the previous experience, Zhang Tongyu was powerless to do anything about the incident itself, but was deeply worried.

The "milk tea cancer incident" originated from a German media outlet that a professor at a certain university of science and technology had tested a drink from a local bubble tea shop and found that it contained carcinogens such as bromide, acetophenone and styrene. The outlet also emphasized that the raw materials for bubble tea came from Taiwan. This report was widely reprinted and circulated by other media outlets, causing a severe blow to the business of bubble tea shops everywhere.

German officials recently announced that after testing a number of samples, no carcinogens were found in bubble tea, nor were there excessive levels of heavy metals and other substances that are harmful to health. Although the truth was revealed, allowing bubble tea businesses to clear their names, it was unable to recover the huge losses suffered by the industry. It was summer, when cold drinks were the best sellers, but when rumors of "carcinogenic bubble tea" spread everywhere, many local consumers avoided bubble tea under the public mentality of "better to believe it than not", and many stores were on the verge of bankruptcy. "It is undeniable that food safety issues have occurred in mainland China and Taiwan in recent years, causing concerns from the outside world, but after all, they are just individual cases. If it is judged that Chinese food is unsafe, it would be too unfair." Zhang Tongyu said.

The reporter consulted relevant data and learned that last year, the qualified rate of food exported from China to the United States reached 99.53%, and the qualified rate of food exported to the European Union was 99.78%. In addition, the statistics report on imported food monitoring by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan showed that in 2011, Japan conducted random inspections on 20% of food imported from China, and the qualified rate of random inspections was 99.74%, which was higher than the qualified rate of random inspections of food imported from the United States and the European Union during the same period. "Food safety is a common problem faced by the whole world, not unique to one country. For example, mad cow disease broke out in Europe and the United States, Japanese merchants used expired raw materials to make cakes, and American spinach was contaminated with bacteria." WHO Director-General Margaret Chan previously pointed out in an interview with the media that the Chinese will not shirk their responsibilities for food safety issues, but also asked Western countries and the media not to look at Chinese food with "tinted glasses" and lose their due fair position. "The Chinese people, in particular, must first maintain a rational attitude towards our own food."