A Little Lye With Your Kung Pao?

Relax, Chinese consumers: The government's got your back. In its crackdown on food producers that add nasty substances to their products, China has expanded its ban list.

No longer may boric acid be used to make noodles and meatballs more elastic. Now forbidden is the practice of soaking seafood with formaldehyde and lye to make it look more delicious. Restaurants must henceforth cease and desist from adding an addictive, poppy-derived, opium-like painkiller to "hot pot," a meat, vegetable, and tofu dish that's usually cooked at the table. Bummer.

In all, the government added 17 substances to its list, along with 10 more like colorings and preservatives that "should not be used excessively," as the AP put it.

Actually, some of the substances had already been banned or restricted, but the government figured that putting them altogether might help inspectors and companies keep them out of foods. So now if inspectors are confused as to whether a restaurant should or should not be adding narcotic drugs to its meals, they have a handy reference to guide them.

One big problem in China is that 70 percent of food processors—of which there are about 500,000—have fewer than 10 employees, so enforcing regulations can be next to impossible. Even with the government's new list, it will be difficult to ensure every single one of them is refraining from adding Sudan red, a cancer-causing industrial dye, to its eggs to make the yolks look more appetizing.