Source: LA Times
At a glance, it is clear this is no run-of-the-mill farm: A 6-foot
spiked fence hems the meticulously planted vegetables and security
guards control a cantilevered gate that glides open only to select cars.
"It is for officials only. They produce organic vegetables, peppers,
onions, beans, cauliflowers, but they don't sell to the public," said Li
Xiuqin, 68, a lifelong Shunyi village resident who lives directly
across the street from the farm but has never been inside. "Ordinary
people can't go in there."
Until May, a sign inside the gate identified the property as the
Beijing Customs Administration Vegetable Base and Country Club. The
placard was removed after a Chinese reporter sneaked inside and
published a story about the farm producing organic food so clean the
cucumbers could be eaten directly from the vine.
Elsewhere in the
world, this might be something to boast about. Not in China. Organic
gardening here is a hush-hush affair in which the cleanest, safest
products are largely channeled to the rich and politically connected.
Many of the nation's best food companies don't promote or advertise.
They don't want the public to know that their limited supply is sent to
Communist Party officials, dining halls reserved for top athletes,
foreign diplomats, and others in the elite classes. The general public,
meanwhile, dines on foods that are increasingly tainted or less than
healthful — meats laced with steroids, fish from ponds spiked with
hormones to increase growth, milk containing dangerous additives such as
melamine, which allows watered-down milk to pass protein-content tests.
"The officials don't really care what the common people eat because
they and their family are getting a special supply of food," said Gao
Zhiyong, who worked for a state-run food company and wrote a book on the
subject.
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