SHENZHEN, China – Customs authorities at the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen destroyed 34.78 tons of “substandard bananas” imported from the Philippines due to excessive pesticide use, state TV said on Saturday. The bananas, worth $33,000, were mashed and buried on Friday, state broadcaster CCTV reported, showing footage of digger mashing the fruit and moving them into a pit for landfill. CCTV said the sampling test indicated that the carbendazim contained in these bananas exceeded China’s standard limits for pesticide residue in food. China would inform the Philippines of the incident and urge the country to take measures to ensure the quality and safety of the exported bananas to China, CCTV said. China is the Philippines’ fourth-biggest export market after Japan, the United States and Hong Kong. Tensions between the two countries were rising amid the South China Sea dispute. The Philippines has brought against China over its South China Sea claims in the International Court of Arbitration in the Hague, and a ruling is expected in the next few months. In March 2012, China stopped a shipment of Philippine bananas, a month before the sea spat on the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal erupted, after it found pests.
Just a thought... What would China say if The Philippines smashed and burned all the crap quality items imported here?
If the products contained toxic substances they would probably report it in their newspaper and blame the Chinese company that produced the toxic product, like they did in this episode Philippines finds melamine in Chinese milk products - The China Post
When I lived in Bahrain the guys selling fruit in the souks would spray their produce with RAID to keep the flies off. They didn't really care about the customer. You need to keep an eye on the expiration dates of sale items here as well.