For anyone reading this and thinking "wtf, no barbecues?!?", this is ostensibly some kind of anti-pollution measure to combat the extreme smog in China (though in practice likely just to make people think they are taking the issue super-seriously while refusing to address the actual problem).

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinas-pollutio...

Why would they ban blue cheese?

Is drug use high among foreigners or is that just a harrassement control to keep them in mental check, so they fear the unpredictability of the government and the power they hold over individual fate?

My guess is food safety. Not quite real food safety, but also not made up. Some European cheeses are not available in here Australia because of regulations about how dairy products have to be processed (Pasteurisation I guess).

Not only might that logic work in China too, but the culture is less tolerant of a food-stuff what is after all curdled milk with a fungal infection. (And we in the west get grossed out by chicken feet!).

Food safety is a great way to backdoor agricultural import restrictions. Europe has been doing it for decades on GMO's.

Wasn't the American GMO's studies bullshit for decades as well? If anything, Europe has led the way in strict and unbiased testing.

True, and in Australia that could be somewhat plausible case that it is protectionism. But in China probably has no cheese-protectionism lobby. Though I suppose it might just be someone angling for baksheesh.

Isn't cheese from raw milk also banned in the US? Think this was a topic then EU and US discussed a free-trade deal.

Raw milk products are certainly not as safe as pasteurised products but many people are willing to take the risk to enjoy the product.

No, cheese from raw milk is not banned in the US. There are various regulations on it however. The raw milk cheese has to be aged at least 60 days and labeled as unpasteurized.

In the west we eat a lot more chicken feet than people think. Nearly any decent chicken stock is going to be made in part with chicken feet as they provide a lovely gelatinous component to the stock.

Wait til you hear how bread is made!

Because it is called so, if the mold on the cheese was red, I believe its consumption would be only encouraged.

But blue cheese, many blue stuff is banned in China, not only cheese.

You mean to tell me, if I go visit China they may _force_ me to do a drug test?

Only if you are unfortunate enough to be in a bar which gets raided at the wrong time (ie bars which are believed to have had drug dealers or drug users in the past) OR if you were in contact with a dealer who got busted.

It happens but it's still pretty rare

The scary thing is that if you are tested positive I believe you would end up in jail for a month before getting deported, even if you consumed legal drugs in your country (ie cannabis)

If you deny to take the test you would definitively be in trouble, at best you would get deported

> The scary thing is that if you are tested positive I believe you would end up in jail for a month before getting deported, even if you consumed legal drugs in your country (ie cannabis)

This would probably happen in many countries. If I were to smoke cannabis legally and this showed up in a drug test in the US (e.g. stopped while driving) you could also be arrested as a foreigner. With many drugs the effects are not as clear as with alcohol, a test can show up positive even though effects are long gone.

More likely, they will politely request that you comply and tell you to leave the country if you refuse.

agreed. foreigner in China will be most likely treated as superior class.

This a meaningless list of random things. Come to India and I can give you a list 10 times this size which will change every 10 days.

So in other words... another meaningless list of random transient things?