8 Foods Made in China You Should No Longer Eat

China is the world’s leading exporter of food products. The country uses innovative methods and technologies to get these products to global markets as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Not surprisingly, many foods suffer from this. Here is a list of eight Chinese foods that contain dangerous substances that we should avoid.

1 – SOY SAUCE
The World Health Organization has announced that this product is classified as carcinogenic. Soy sauce contains 4-methylimidazole (carcinogenic in mice and rats).

2 – GINGER

A 2013 study found that the pesticide Aldicarb, which is only approved for use on cotton, peanuts, roses and sweet potatoes, was also used on ginger. Farmers applied it three to six times the recommended level.
3 – INDUSTRIAL SALT
Industrial salt is unfit for human consumption, but industrial salt has been sold as table salt for 13 years! Industrial salt can cause mental and physical problems, hypothyroidism and reproductive system disorders.

4 – MUSHROOMS
Chlorinating agents, anhydrous calcium chloride, sodium sulfite and other dangerous preservatives are used in mushroom spraying.

5 – TILAPIA FISH
Tilapia is a common farmed fish in China. These fish are some of the worst, most poisonous and most unhealthy fish you can come across. A tilapia eats everything, comparable to a cleaner fish, and the fish farm is a small pool of water with waste where the fish live. This is one of the worst fish purchases you can make, and it is well known that seafood producers in China do not even let their children eat the seafood they produce, which should raise alarm bells. 80% of Tilapia comes from China.

6 – SHRIMP
To ensure the survival of the shrimp, farmers used unauthorized antibiotics and chemicals. 30 samples of shrimp purchased in China were sent to a laboratory at the Institute for Environment and Human Health at Texas Tech University. Results: Antibiotics (enrofloxacin, chloramphenicol and nitrofuranzone) that are banned in the US and other countries due to their carcinogenic effects were used in shrimp farming. 7 – APPLE JUICE

In 2011, Dr. Mehmet Oz reported that apple juice from China contained very high levels of arsenic. Another study published by Consumer Reports magazine found that 10% of apple juices tested exceeded the arsenic levels required by standards. The arsenic found in the products was not organic; instead, it was toxic and dangerous.
8 – CHINESE GARLIC
Inspectors have also found contaminated garlic from China. Chinese garlic is heavily sprayed with chemicals, and this garlic leaves an unpleasant aftertaste, that of a chemical mixture.

The two nearly identical photos you shared, rows of workers in white hoods, masks, and blue gloves, hands deep in trays of tiny pink shrimp, are the part of the seafood aisle most shoppers never see.

It is not a kitchen. It is a peeling line, likely in East Asia, where the global shrimp you buy frozen, pre-cooked, or in a salad is hand-processed before it ever reaches a U.S. or European supermarket.

The image looks clean and industrial, but the story behind it is more complicated: a mix of food safety, economics, and serious labor concerns.

What you're looking at

Species: probably cold-water shrimp (the size and color match Pandalus borealis, often called Northern or salad shrimp). A Chongqing factory profile notes it processes Northern shrimp imported from Canada, exporting to Japan and other countries, leveraging local labor to achieve $760,000 in export value by month's end.

Process: after cooking, shrimp are cooled, then peeled and deveined by hand. Machines exist, but for small shrimp, human hands are still faster and cause less breakage.

Gear: the white suits, hairnets, and gloves are for food safety, not just worker protection. They reduce contamination in high-throughput plants.

Why it's done by hand, far from where shrimp are caught

Labor cost arbitrage. Peeling is labor-intensive. Shipping cooked, frozen shrimp to China or Southeast Asia for hand-peeling, then re-exporting, is cheaper than paying domestic wages.

Scale. The global shrimp fishery catches over 3.4 million tons annually, primarily in Asia. Processing capacity followed the catch.

Re-imports. The U.S. imports about 90% of its seafood. Much of it makes a round trip: caught in North America or farmed in Asia, peeled in China/Thailand/Vietnam, then sold back as "product of" the processing country.

The labor issue the photo hides

Your image shows a clean, well-lit line. Investigations show that is not always the reality.

An Associated Press investigation revealed enslaved workers forced to peel shrimp in Thailand, prompting U.S. officials to urge a boycott. The AP found shrimp from major retailers like Wal-Mart and Red Lobster still enter U.S. supply chains, with companies like Thai Union admitting to sourcing shrimp from slave labor.

The AP tracked shrimp from sheds to U.S. and European markets, finding 10,000 migrant children aged 13-15 working in the city, with 60% of Burmese seafood laborers in Thailand being victims of forced labor.

More recently, the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China heard testimony that forced labor in China's seafood industry involves Uyghur and North Korean workers processing seafood for U.S. markets. Business and Human Rights reports note North Korean workers in Chinese seafood plants supplying the US market are reportedly subjected to forced labor, with over 100,000 estimated to work there since 2017, facing grueling conditions and exploitation.

Industry groups have responded. The Global Aquaculture Alliance says its Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification ensures safe working conditions and fair wages for migrant workers, though critics say audits miss subcontracted peeling sheds.

Health risks for workers, too

Even in legal plants, peeling shrimp is not benign. A study of shrimp processing workers in Norway showed 4-5x higher respiratory symptoms and allergy biomarkers compared to controls, with elevated IgE levels and higher protein exposure, particularly in cooking/peeling departments, requiring protective measures.

Shrimp proteins become aerosolized in warm, wet plants, leading to occupational asthma and skin allergies, which is why masks and gloves matter.

Food safety for you

From a consumer standpoint, hand-peeled shrimp is generally safe if the cold chain is maintained. The bigger risks are:

Sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP): used to retain water, can make shrimp mushy and increase sodium.

Mislabeling: country of origin often reflects where peeling happened, not where shrimp were farmed.

Antibiotic residues: more common in farmed warm-water shrimp from unregulated ponds than in cold-water wild shrimp like those in your photo.

What to look for if you buy peeled shrimp

Certification, not just country. Look for BAP, ASC, or MSC labels, and check the plant number on the package. It is not perfect, but it is better than nothing.

"Wild-caught, product of USA/Canada" and "peeled" — if it does not say where peeled, assume offshore.

Buy shell-on when possible. It is less processed, tastes better, and avoids the peeling labor step entirely.

Check import alerts. The FDA maintains an import alert list for shrimp with banned antibiotics, disproportionately from certain regions.

Why the photo matters

The image feels anonymous, but it represents a key choke point in your food: a few thousand hands deciding the quality, safety, and ethics of a product eaten millions of times a day.

When you see a bag of tiny pink shrimp for $5.99, remember the math behind it: low margins, high volume, and labor that is often invisible, migrant, and, in documented cases, coerced.

You do not have to stop eating shrimp. You do have to recognize that the convenience of pre-peeled comes with a supply chain that has repeatedly been linked to forced labor, in Thailand and, more recently, in China.

Choosing shell-on, certified, or domestically processed shrimp does not solve the whole system, but it shifts demand away from the most opaque peeling sheds, the ones that look exactly like the clean white room in your photo, and the ones that do not.