So I’ll spare you the photos. But: I went to the local “asian grocery,” and I bought this pan. A wok, actually. It looked nice and wasn’t completely the ’cheap choice.’ The food and service in this place were good, all the times I’d been there. I live in a university town; lots of Asian seeming folks were shopping there, and all the stuff sold there was labeled in a different language than English. So my thought was: this could be a good place to shop for “asian” cooking supplies.
I wanted to make a beef and water chestnut dish tonight. I used the new wok. It had been oiled, gently washed clean from store-born ick, and heated for the first time to a reasonable temp. I even used a plastic spatula.
Just as the meat cooking was getting done, I noticed something. A long, shiny, two-inch scrape on the floor of the wok. One that left edges of paint, turned back and ready to work into the meat or food cooking in the wok. I was horrified. All I could think of was “poisoned lead paint” and dying children. I also hated myself for the racist reaction I had to pans and kitchen stuff made abroad; I confess that I had one.
What should I do? I’m taking the wok back to the grocer from whom I bought it tomorrow. Should I report it? Them? To whom? How? Again, I keep thinking, “how many of these were sold to the unsuspecting?” What creeped me out was that I realized, had I not been closely paying attention, I could’ve cooked the scraped paint right into the meat and veggies and never noticed (you know how sometimes you only put half the pan of food onto the serving bowl for the table; the rest covers the cooking pan bottom) that the paint had mixed and flaked into the food, and was almost invisible in the dark sauce.
This, by the way, is life in the post-strong dollar economy. A friend of mine who is fluent in the languages of modern China, and who does regular biz in Sh and Bg, told me thusly: “they are keeping the good stuff for sale at home now; America gets the crap.” That seems more or less true to me. You?
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I wonder if the same goes for medicine...
… or do they sell adulterated products domestically as well?
Reminds me of a glorious throwback to early Victorian capitalism. Why we have regulation, or used to.
And you’re right. Because of the weak dollar, we have to buy crap.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Of course you should report it...
I mean, I wouldn’t even bother taking it back — I’d take it to the local Consumer Product Safety Division, so that they can analyze what ever it is that was flaking off into your dinner.
It could be lead based paint, or some weird “no stick” chemical preparation, or who knows what. The important thing is that while it probably is harmless, you can’t know that without reporting it…. and in the meantime somebody else could get very sick.
A question: Did this look like a part of a “new shipment”, or something that had been sitting on the shelves for a while? If the latter, its almost certainly “harmless”…. but if it looked like it was recently put on the shelves, you can’t make the same assumption.
Sounds like we're reaping the whirlwind
that Wal-Mart sowed for us with its ability to force its suppliers to reduce their costs to keep its business.
Where do the Wal-Mart rejects go?
Bodegas and neighborhood stores and Big Lots and all those $1 something places, ’cause it’s gotta go somewhere, the factories have contracts to make more.
Some of it just needs to be resmelted.
paul, i wish i could say. it was "clean." or as much as i
could tell, looking at it on a shelf next to other, similary priced pans from abroad.
who is the CPSD in my area any how am i sure they care, and will “crack down?” that’s my question. i’ve worked “in government,” and i’m aware of how thise sort of reporting can, and cannot, work. the question is: how to find the One who Cares?
it’s tricky. that much and alone, i think i know. thanks again for your comment.
I'm not picturing this wok clearly
I’ve never seen a painted wok, I never hope to see one… Oh, wait.
But paint? Huh? On a surface that contacts food?
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
exactly, lb. imagine "teflon" that peels and rots as you
heat it, for the first time. that’s what happened to me. heat: 8. oil: coated. veges: fresh. spatula: plastic.
15mins later: black “paint” coming off and scraping easily into the meat. gross! i mean little black flecks all over the place, all over the water chestnuts, etc.
i didn’t even have it on full “high” heat. brown the meat, see the flecked paint. imagine my outrage.
the kids card
and i’m aware of how thise sort of reporting can, and cannot, work. the question is: how to find the One who Cares?
well, while there are no guarantees, considering all the publicly about lead paint and other toxins in children’s toys, I’d say your best bet is to play the “kids” card — emphasize that you were making dinner for your children — and if you have little ones, make sure to mention their ages.
My guess is that NOBODY in any relevant government agency wants to be the one who ignored a warning about something toxic from China that winds up killing a kid.