On Tuesday, families victimized by tainted spinach and peanut butter urged lawmakers at a congressional hearing to strengthen federal oversight of the nation's food supply.
Chinese authorities acknowledge their safety problem and have promised repeatedly to fix it, but the disasters keep coming.

Tang Yanli, 45, grand-aunt of a baby who became sick because of the fake milk but eventually recovered, said that even though she now pays more to buy national brands, she remains suspicious.
I don't trust the food I eat, she said. I don't know which products are good, which are bad.

With China playing an ever-larger role in supplying food, medicine and animal feed to other countries, recognition of the hazards has not kept up.
By value, China is the world's No. 1 exporter of fruits and vegetables, and a major exporter of other food and food products, which vary widely, from apple juice to garlic to sausage casings.

China's agricultural exports to the U.S. surged to $2.

26 billion last year, according to U.S. figures more than 20 times the $133 million of 1980.

China has been especially poor at meeting international standards. The U.S.

subjects only a small fraction of its food imports to close inspection, but each month rejects about 200 shipments from China, mostly because of concerns about pesticides and antibiotics and about misleading labeling. In February, FDA border inspectors blocked peastainted by pesticides, dried white plums containing banned additives, pepper contaminated with salmonella, and frozen crawfish that were filthy.
Since 2000, some countries have temporarily banned whole categories of Chinese imports.

The European Union stopped shipments of shrimp because of banned antibiotics. Japan blocked tea and spinach, citing excessive antibiotic residue. And South Korea banned fermented cabbage after finding parasites in some shipments.

As globalization of the food supply progresses, the food gets more anonymous and gradually you get into a situation where you don't know where exactly it came from and you get more vulnerable to poor quality, said Michiel Keyzer, director of the Centre for World Food Studies at Vrije University in Amsterdam, who researches China's exports to the European Union.
Chinese authorities, while conceding the country has many safety problems, have claimed other countries' assessments of products are sometimes not accurate and have implied the bans may be politically motivated, aimed at protecting domestic companies that compete with Chinese businesses.
China's State Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture which along with other government agencies share responsibility for monitoring food and drug safety this week declined to answer written questions sent to them via fax.

In the U.S., more than 100 brands of pet food have been recalled since March 16 because of a spike in animal deaths, generally from kidney failure.

The recall, one of the largest ever, included mass-market brands sold in stores such as Safeway and Wal-Mart, as well as pricey brands sold by veterinarians and specialty retailers.
Why the food is killing pets remains a focus of investigation, but the FDA and a manufacturer in South Africa have found that several bulk ingredients shipped from China, including wheat gluten and rice-protein concentrate, were contaminated with an industrial chemical called melamine.
Last week, concern about animal safety transformed into a concern about risk to people.

California state officials said the industrial chemical melamine had been found in livestock feed at a hog farm and could pose a minimal health risk to people who ate pork from there. Wheat gluten is also commonly used in breads, cereals and other foods for human consumption, but contamination has not been found in such U.S.

products.
The investigations are unearthing details of the food chain that were previously a mystery to most Americans, including the international dealings that determine how ingredients make their way into the food supply. U.

S. companies are under relentless pressure to cut costs, in part from consumers who demand low prices, and obtaining cheap ingredients from China has become an important strategy for many of them.

Meanwhile, the hearings in Washington on Tuesday showed problems in the domestic food chain.

I can't protect them from spinach only you guys can, said Michael Armstrong, as he and his wife, Elizabeth, cradled daughters Ashley, 2, and Isabella, 5.
The two girls fell ill Ashley gravely so in September after eating a salad made with a bag of the leafy greens contaminated by E. coli.

I hope these hearings will help alert the American people, Congress and the administration to the seriousness of this issue, said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations.

If it is not taken seriously, these kinds of poisonings can, and will, happen again. Food poisonings will happen to you, to me and to our children and our pets.
Also testifying was Gary Pruden, joined by his 11-year-old son, Sean, who was seriously sickened in November by E.

coli after eating at a Taco Bell restaurant. Mr. Pruden said a key element of trade and commerce is trust whether placed in accountants, airline pilots or auto mechanics.

That is also extended to the trust in the food we order or buy from the grocery store that it's edible and safe, Mr. Pruden told the subcommittee. Without that trust, commerce cannot work.

And where failure occurs, oversight is required.
The Washington Post and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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