China has cornered the global market for vitamins

By Tim Johnson
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)

SHIJIAZHUANG, China - If you pop a vitamin C tablet in your mouth,
it's a good bet it came from China. Indeed, many of the world's
vitamins are now made in China.

In less than a decade, China has captured 90 percent of the U.S.
market for vitamin C, driving almost everyone else out of business.

Chinese pharmaceutical companies also have taken over much of the
world market in the production of antibiotics, analgesics, enzymes and
primary amino acids. According to an industry group, China makes 70
percent of the world's penicillin, 50 percent of its aspirin and 35
percent of its acetaminophen (often sold under the brand name
Tylenol), as well as the bulk of vitamins A, B12, C and E.

In the wake of a pet food scandal, in which adulterated wheat gluten
from China led to the deaths of thousands of pets in North America,
and other instances of food and toothpaste tampering, China's vitamin
producers are reaching out to reassure U.S. consumers that their
vitamins are safe.

Whether that's true isn't clear, however. Foreign food-safety experts
say China's larger companies have reputations to protect. The question
is how they maintain quality control.