Chewing on a piece of cardboard

Last night, I watched in utter disgust as the news on telly showed how a back-alley operation in Beijing, China, went about steaming batches of pork buns that were to be sold to the public. Bustling around in a kitchen that would have renowned U.K. chef Gordan Ramsay cursing like a lunatic, the Chinese cook was seen soaking chopped cardboard pieces to a pulp, which was then seasoned and sautéed together with some fatty pork and seasoning. The ingredients were then stuffed into white fluffy buns and sold to an unsuspecting public. The final recipe? Forty percent fatty meat, 60 percent cardboard...yummy. Asked if his customers were able to tell the difference, the cook simply replied: "It fools the average person." Back-alley operations like these are commonplace across China, where these illegal vendors attempt to improve their profit margins by using cheap, and sometimes, counterfeit substitutes. According to a June 2007 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), counterfeiters have started to target goods that can affect personal health and safety, including baby food, instant coffee, pharmaceutical drugs, tobacco and toys. In fact, China accounts for 80 percent of all food and non-food items seized at borders under the European Union. The OECD report names Asia as the largest source for counterfeit and pirated products. John Dryden, the OECD's deputy director, said: "Trade in counterfeit goods is a big problem and getting bigger... It has serious implications for health, safety, living standards and jobs. It is also a major disincentive to invent and innovate." Will reports like these cause businesses to think twice before purchasing a piece of IT equipment that's made in China? While big Chinese brand names such as Lenovo and Huawei Technologies, are unlikely to risk their reputation by stuffing dodgy components into their products, can the same be said for smaller unknown brands that have less to lose? Smaller businesses could very well be the hardest hit because they're cost-sensitive and more likely to buy from less well-known brand names. After all, as the bun maker aptly puts it: "It fools the average person." The OECD suggests that the best way to beat the counterfeit problem is for governments to intensify the enforcement of piracy laws. And businesses could learn to be more street smart. Oh, and you'll be glad to know that the Beijing bun maker has been forced to shut down.

Editor's note: Beijing authorities have since claimed that the report about steamed buns stuffed with cardboard was fabricated. Further investigations determined the television reporter had manufactured the story to boost audience ratings, according to the Beijing police, which added that the reporter has been detained.