Why do you think they call it Soylent Green?

Interfax says China's government is cracking down on condiment makers after exposing soy sauce producers, on state-run television, using human hair in their product:

China Central Television (CCTV), the state television station, first raised public worries over the quality of domestic soy sauce by uncovering a substandard workshop in central China's Hubei Province, where piles of waste human hair were found. The hairs were treated in special containers to distill amino acid, the most common substance contained in soybean sauce…

By producing soy sauce from such raw materials, the producers were said able to cut costs by half. Workers employed at the plants, however, never bought soy sauce marked as "blended" on the packaging, because that usually meant that human hair was the basic material in the sauce.

Soy sauce made from human hair is not the first low-quality food product exposed by state television, which launched a program called "Weekly Quality Report" around half a year ago. The program, which conducts investigations into the low quality of some of China's most common food products, has frequently ruined the public appetite.

"The government has now ordered an immediate inspection of all domestic food seasoning plants before the end of January," says Interfax.

Related story from the Hong Kong Standard.

Encouraged at China's new openness to public concerns? Appalled at the state's scapegoating of entrepreuners? We report, you deride.