A woman bought a dumpling, but was startled by the "cancer" reminder on the package when she tasted it.
The Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month is the last grand festival during the Spring Festival.
On this day, most people choose to eat tangyuan, which symbolizes "happy reunion" and "family harmony".
Even if you are abroad, in the era of commodity globalization, it is not difficult to buy Chinese glutinous rice balls.
A Chinese woman in the United States, even though she is overseas, wants to celebrate the festive season, buys a bag of rice balls, and returns home to taste the taste of her hometown.
While enjoying the nostalgia, she suddenly noticed a huge warning on the back of the dumpling package.
The woman found that the "rhubarb rice and sesame rice dumplings" she bought were not much different from the domestic rice balls in terms of packaging, except that some Chinese characters were translated into English.
However, in the ** position on the back of the package, a striking "warning" (warning) caught her attention.
This was followed by a chilling warning message: "Cancer and Reproductive System Damage". This took her by surprise.
While tasting the familiar taste of the dumplings and evoking nostalgia for her hometown, the woman had doubts about the warning message on the packaging of the dumplings.
This sudden discovery casts a shadow over what should have been a warm and pleasant dining moment, and the woman's mood becomes complicated. She shared the incident on the Internet, which sparked a discussion among many netizens.
It has been pointed out that consuming excessively hot food may cause damage to the esophagus and increase the risk of cancer, which is why foreigners generally dislike eating excessively hot food.
There are also doubts about the difference in commodity standards between China and abroad.
Although the goods may be the same, in foreign countries, various information must be labeled, while in China it is not required. This view is shared by many people.
Of course, not everyone thinks how serious this warning is.
In fact, many items have similar warning labels on them. This view is more in line with scientific and rational explanations.
Not only glutinous rice balls, as mentioned earlier, many goods come with similar warnings. In last year's Science Popularization China event, someone has already explained and explained this.
As stated in the explanation, many warnings on products are not specific to the quality of a particular product, but to comply with the regulatory requirements of a specific region.
This is especially true under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (commonly referred to as Proposition 65) enforced in California, USA.
The rule requires companies to clearly label products that may contain chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm to alert consumers of possible health risks.
The ubiquity of warning labels is not for specific product quality issues, but rather for a broad legal and safety notification measure.
Whether it's glutinous rice balls, canned sardines, or homegrown American brands of Coke, Starbucks coffee, and other items sold in stores, almost all of them may have such a warning label.
We should be rational when faced with warnings on product packaging and not panic or misunderstand excessively.
These warnings are intended to prevent risks to the greatest extent possible, but do not imply that the product will necessarily cause serious health effects under normal use.
When shopping globally, it's important to understand and adapt to the laws and regulations of different countries and regions, as well as cultural differences. So we don't need to read too much into these warnings.
Domestic commodity standards and requirements are constantly improving and improving, especially in recent years, with the improvement of consumer health awareness and the increase of safety and quality requirements, relevant regulations and standards are constantly updated to protect the rights and interests of consumers.
Therefore, we should look at the differences between domestic and foreign standards with a more open and learning attitude.