Judging Food by its Label

When you regularly see headlines like this, it makes you think about the origin of food:

They found borax and bleach in a noodle production facility.

Most of the food in our kitchen has traveled farther than many people do in a lifetime. I can’t even bear to think about calculating the carbon footprint of our pantry.  Yet, in a place where very limited food is produced, there isn’t a good alternative.   

With food in Hong Kong being imported from around the world, food labeling is something that gets a lot of attention.  It also must require an army of workers to keep food on the shelves.  Every imported item has a Hong Kong food label that is printed and covers the original food label (and often the directions or recipes as well), like this:

 

Yet, I’ve learned that what’s on the label can be misleading.  Until recently, we had been buying imported Australian milk…or so I thought.  After a more thorough examination of the label, I discovered that the COWS are imported from Australia to China.

Nutritional claims or certain words (haven’t yet figured out what they are) that don’t meet the HK labeling rules (haven’t yet figured out what they are yet, either) get marked out.  With a magic marker.  I’m not sure what the crazy claims the Australian maker of this canola spray made, but it clearly was egregious:

Either that or the person who spends day-in/day-out with a Sharpie marking up labels was really, really bored!!

Some products that are made in the US are labeled by the manufacturer for “Export” or "Export Only":

Makes you wonder...what does that mean?  Was there a quality issue that wasn't suitable for domestic consumption? 

Just many more Living-in-Hong-Kong mysteries that we'll never solve!