The poisonous pet food - laced with Chinese industrial waste imported to the U.S. with rice and wheat proteins - is a sad, old story. It is an open question how many American animals actually died, and Israeli pets are believed to be safe, as Royal Canine, Eukanuba and other pet foods recalled in the U.S. are imported to Israel from France, not the U.S. But did you think that was the end of the story? You thought wrong.

First came the biggest recall of pet food in human history. Next we read about melamine, a by-product of coal production, found in feed that the U.S. imported from China and used in cultivating hogs, chickens and farmed fish, which were slaughtered and eaten by humans. The FDA adds that it doesn't believe people will be harmed by eating these animals, though, because the concentration of toxin in the final consumer is low, and generally approved the suspect animals for consumption. Or, at least, reassured people who had already eaten them.

Today the Washington Post reports that in four months, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board rejected nearly 300 shipments of foodstuffs from China to the States. The would-be importers did not always despair, though: some of the adulterated "foods" tried more than once to breach the American border, the Post reports.

Dried apples that were preserved with a carcinogenic chemical, frozen fish featuring not only ice but banned antibiotics, and "mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides" were on the list of delicacies aimed for the American palate, courtesy of corporate China, says the Post. Salmonella in imported pepper corns has been found too, though to be fair, Canada also had that problem with spices imported from India.

Nor is that all. Panama was horrified to discover that its people are brushing their teeth with deadly toothpaste, branded Mr. Cool and Excel. The paste contains di-ethylene glycol, and is suspected of having originated in China, reports the Dominican Today. The chemical is used in anti-freeze. Australia has recalled a toothpaste last week.

Why was melamine used in wheat and rice precursors for the food industry? Because it artificially inflates nitrogen readings, leading to falsely high protein content readings. Why use anti-freeze ingredients in toothpaste? Because it tastes sweet, though it's said to have a nasty aftertaste.

By value, China is the world's biggest exporter of fruits and vegetables, selling everything from delicacies to ducks. It also sells other things, such as additives. There seem to be problems of quality control, and with enforcement as well.

In February 2007, FDA border inspectors blocked pesticide-poisoned peas, dried white plums containing banned additives, salmonella-seasoned pepper and frozen crawfish crawling with bacteria, reported the Detroit-based National/World news website last month.

One of the plants suspected of selling melamine-doctored feed to the U.S. burned to the ground right before Chinese inspectors arrived: the owner denied any wrong-doing, a claim now rather hard to prove.

Problems have arisen with a slew of Chinese imports to the U.S., including cosmetics. Women may not realize that they are applying makeup made using carcinogenic precursors, warns the paper.

Standards can be questionable. In July 2004, the United States Food and Drug Administration warned Americans not to feed infants Guan Wei Yuan formula imported from China because it had inadequate nutrition: it "contained less than 1/7 of the federally required minimal amount of protein per serving, approximately 1/4 the required amount of fat and only minute amounts of declared calcium and magnesium", the FDA wrote.

In short, it could kill.

There have been no reports of human illness from consuming the pork, chicken and fish flesh originating from animals fed with the contaminated feed. Why don't U.S. regulators act more rigorously regarding Chinese imports? Because America is so highly dependent on them, and also, because corporate America is slavering to sell to China, explains the Post.