Due to government incentives to cover up or downplay problems associated with social-political stability, it is difficult to gauge the full extent of food safety problems in China. An Asian Development Bank report released in 2007 (prior to the tainted baby formula scandal) estimated that 300 million Chinese might be affected by foodborne disease annually. Food borne disease can result from consumption of food contaminated by toxins, pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites.

While it is relatively easy to link a health problem (e.g., acute diarrhea) to infections resulting from the consumption of contaminated food or water, it is unlikely for chronic health conditions (e.g., cancer) caused by food tainted with toxic chemicals to be included in annual statistics, even though illegal food additives or noxious substances in food are becoming a major health hazard in China. A 2011 study published in the Chinese Journal of Food Hygiene suggests that more than 94 million people become ill annually from bacterial foodborne diseases alone, which led to approximately 3.4 million hospitalizations and more than 8,500 deaths. By way of comparison, the CDC estimates that foodborne bacteria, viruses, and microbes combined cause 48 million Americans to fall ill, 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths a year.

What is to blame for China's food safety crisis? In an opinion piece published in International Herald Tribune on August 17, I argued that the crisis highlighted China's failure to establish a code of business ethics as its market economy expands faster than government regulators can keep pace. In the absence of effective regulations and moral constraints, private profit too often trumps public good. Ironically, what is happening in China is exactly what Karl Marx described 150 years ago. He said that with adequate profit "there is not a crime at which [capital] will [not] scruple, nor a risk it will not run, even to the chance of its owner being hanged." In a country where serving God is still suppressed, and "serving the people" is no longer in vogue, serving money seems to be the main attractive option. In an October 2011 nationwide online survey of nearly 23,000 adults, more than half of the respondents did not think complying with ethical standards was a necessary condition for success in Chinese society (again, by way of comparison, only 24 percent of financial executives in the U.S. say illegal or unethical conduct may be necessary for success).

As a Tsinghua University professor said, since counterfeiters and adulterers are also victims of other unsafe food, "this is a society where everybody intoxicates everybody." Wu Heng echoed by warning that Chinese are "exchanging feces to eat." A neo-Hobbesian world of everyone against everyone is probably an overstatement. However, a functioning society needs basic moral codes in order to restrain dangerous behaviors. In a make-believe world where that baseline morality is suffering a great leap backward, some social breakdown may not be a far-fetched scenario.

This article originally appeared at CFR.org, an Atlantic partner site.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.