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A Traveler Learns About China’s Food Scandals The Hard Way

China’s slowing economy can worsen, or fix, its food safety problem

Feb 13, 2026
∙ Paid
By: Xiaochen Su

Jolted awake at 2 am, I rushed into the hotel bathroom. The churn in my stomach had a certain culprit: a nondescript mom-and-pop hotpot restaurant down the street. I was being extra careful with boiling the thin slices of beef and checking to make sure that the eatery was patronized by repeat customers. Still, I was ensnared by the ingred…

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