China-made vitamins C, A, B12, E, penicillin, aspirin, Tylenol. [View All]

China-made drugs under scrutiny
By Tim Johnson - McClatchy Beijing Bureau
Last Updated 5:06 am PDT Friday, June 1, 2007

An ad for vitamin C in Shijiazhuang, China,
where most of the U.S. supply is produced.


SHIJIAZHUANG, China -- If you pop a vitamin C tablet into your mouth, it's a good bet it came from China. Indeed, many of the world's vitamins are now made in China.

In less than a decade, China has captured 90 percent of the U.S. market for vitamin C, driving almost everyone else out of business.

Chinese pharmaceutical companies also have taken over much of the world market in the production of antibiotics, analgesics, enzymes and primary amino acids. According to an industry group, China makes 70 percent of the world's penicillin, 50 percent of its aspirin and 35 percent of its acetaminophen (often sold under the brand name Tylenol), as well as the bulk of vitamins A, B12 and E.

In the wake of a pet food scandal, in which adulterated wheat flour from China led to the deaths of thousands of pets in North America, and other instances of food and toothpaste tampering, China's vitamin producers are reaching out to reassure U.S. consumers that their vitamins are safe. ...

"The industry in China is bifurcated between top-notch companies that are highly skilled and do all the right things, and the second- and third-tier producers, some of which are just sloppy bucket shops," said Peter Kovacs, a food industry consultant based in Incline Village, Nev.

Foreign brokers agree that the low end of China's market has severe problems. "Sometimes you enter a factory, and you say, 'I can't believe they produce food here.' It's dirty and the machines are old," said Jan Willem Roben of Vision Ingredients in Shanghai, a broker of food additives for export.

Since U.S. laws don't require food and drug sellers to label products with the country of origin of ingredients, it's impossible for consumers to know where food or supplements come from, not to mention what factory produced them. ...

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/201677.html