About 100 Panamanians are believed to have died by consuming a chemical similar to antifreeze, which was bottled by the Taixing Glycerine factory.

China's Foreign Ministry admitted that the company was licensed only to sell chemicals for industrial use, but argued nonetheless that the government strictly regulates the pharmaceutical industry. Neither Taixing nor any individual working for the company has been charged with causing the deaths in Panama.

Also this week, the Chinese government admitted that two Chinese companies added chemicals to pet food that led to thousands of animals dying in the United States. Both Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development and Binzhou Futian Biology Technology were found to have added melamine to food additives. To guarantee export, they did not make it clear that melamine had been added.

According to industry experts, melamine is used to produce glues and fertilizers, but when added to food it can make it appear more protein-rich.

"The two companies illegally added melamine to the wheat gluten and rice protein in a bid to meet the contractual demand for the amount of protein in the products," China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine stated. But again, no company or individual has yet been deemed responsible for the ploy.

While the United States and other countries have stepped up calls for China to improve its food and drug labeling processes, countries across Asia are also worried about the foods that do not get labeled and yet make it to their markets -- fresh fruits and vegetables as well as fish and meat.

After all, in the United States and Europe, Chinese-made products ranging from T-shirts to toys may flood the markets, but when it comes to food, the made in China label still remains a minority, particularly for fresh produce. For the Asian region at large, China's vast territory is also a source of food imports, much of it unprocessed and without any labeling.

Reports of Chinese-farmed vegetables grown by using chemicals banned in Japan or unsanitary conditions appear on a regular basis. For instance, fresh spinach grown with banned chemicals was recalled from supermarkets across Japan about a year ago, while about three years ago, the Japanese arm of Boston-based Mister Donuts saw its fortunes slump after it was found that their sandwiches were made using spring onions from China that were infected with the E. coli 0-157 bacteria.

Indeed, the international environmental group Greenpeace found last year that of all the Chinese-grown produce sold in Hong Kong supermarkets, 25 percent of the sampled fruit and vegetables were tainted with fertilizers that have been deemed unsafe for human consumption by the group.

At the basement food hall of Tokyo's Seibu department store Thursday, women flocked to buy fresh organic greens from a farmer in western Japan priced about $8 for a small handful. A few boxes down, a similar-looking bag of leaves was being sold for less than half that price, but there seemingly were no interested buyers.

"That's made in China. You just can't be sure what chemicals were used to grow them ... I don't want to put my body at risk like that," said Maki Tateshina, who was shopping on her way back home from work. She added, "If I'm eating it, I want to make sure it's safe. And I really don't have that confidence about Chinese produce."

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