Opinion | Without better food safety, being health-conscious in China is a lost cause
- The authorities deal with scandals seriously, including the recent one involving cooking oil, but by then, it may be too late. Regulation and monitoring must be stepped up
For years, my friend Viola and I have been regularly swapping healthy recipes. Whenever one of us discovers new literature focused on health, such as the recent book Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity by Dr Peter Attia, or new science about longevity or some healthy ingredients in the supermarket, we immediately tell each other.
We have learned that replacing food high in saturated fats, such as bacon, with salmon, or replacing saturated fats like lard with olive oil, lowers the chances of a heart attack and premature death. I find that one’s meat intake should be under 200g a day, while vegetables can be 500g, but we should also eat fish at least twice a week. Sweets and refined flour should be taken in moderation, in controlled, tiny portions. Sometimes when I cook, I use measured amounts of oil and salt to limit my intake.
The scandal has been devastating. Suddenly, we felt that our healthy living habits had been a joke. No matter how carefully we planned our food, how closely we watched our calories, how much we tried to eliminate the risks, what can we do if there’s fuel mixed in with our cooking oil without our knowledge?