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China has soaring levels of soil and water pollution, with seven out of the top 10 farming provinces amongst the areas most exposed to heavy metal pollution such as lead, according to a March report from HSBC.

Major firms, including fast food chains McDonald's and Burger King Worldwide Inc, said they had put in place stringent testing and auditing procedures in China to avoid issues such as contamination from water and soil pollution.

"We have rigorous and overlapping internal and external testing procedures and audits to ensure that our suppliers in China, and around the world, meet our strict specifications," said Vijay Guyah, a Singapore-based spokesman for Burger King.  

Broken chains

Agricultural supply chains in China tend to be highly fragmented with most farms still small-scale.

Even with stringent auditing processes of suppliers - which multinational firms such as Heinz would carry out - it's difficult to keep track of all suppliers along the line, some of whom may be tempted to subcontract to cut costs.

What's more, while China's regulators have tight food safety rules, industry insiders said the watchdogs simply did not have the manpower to properly enforce them.

"It's not that the technology doesn't exist in China, it's just the chains are too fragmented," said an industry executive in China, who previously ran a food processing plant serving multinational firms in China and abroad.

The former executive said that one batch of frozen vegetables that his firm shipped to the Japanese market had become contaminated by chemicals after an audited, long-term supplier topped up its harvest from a neighbouring farm.

"When supply chains are so large, you can't always prevent a supplier buying from someone else if someone else has a cheaper price," the former executive said. "It's a matter of one guy doing things wrong and the product is contaminated."