My stoopid dog is like part of the family, and am pretty picky about what I feed her. Recently I have been especially vigilant when checking labels for the words "made in China". It can be tricky finding it, but it's often there. Invariably I will find it when the label does not prominently say "made in USA", but instead says things like "Manufactured by a US based company". The reason for this vigilance is that China has a messy track record when it comes to food safety, let alone dog food safety (thousands of dogs died in the 2007 melamine poisoning and more recently several thousand were reportedly sickened by Chinese chicken dog treats).
Regarding human food safety, the record is similarly clear; the baby formula scandal in 2008 which sickened over 50 thousand infants (melamine again), another milk contamination scandal in 2011 (leather-hydrolyzed protein this time), heavy metals found in rice and the steroid clenbuterol found in pork in 2011. So in light of all this, when the question of allowing Chinese processors to import US grown and slaughtered chickens, process them into nuggets, patties or chunks without any on-site USDA inspection, then (despite the dubious economics) export those products back to the US market for consumption by humans, what did the USDA do? If you have been paying any attention lately you already know the answer, but in short, over the next year these products will be hitting our shores. And unlike the treats I feed my dog, you won't be able to find a "made in China" label on those nuggets, soups or other products containing Chinese processed chicken - there is no country of origin requirements for processed foods. This is likely the small end of the wedge to opening the US market to chicken grown and processed in China.
The US is not perfect in regards to food safety, but compared to China we are on another planet. If you feel similarly, there is a petition at change.org to keep Chinese chicken out of school lunches, which currently is 193,148 signatures short of the goal. It's not much, but a start that should have never been necessary in the first place.
Update: The change.org petition has reached 322k signatures (whoopie), still short of the 500k they are needing. Progress seems to be stalled out of late.
Update 6/9/2014: Stumbled on an article about some Chinese made duck treats being sold at Costco in Canada, which has some interesting points about how the FDA does not even know what is killing dogs (through renal failure, and GI distress) - yes appears this is still happening. Now the CDC is going to investigate. According to another article, some of the major pet stores are beginning to take notice, and are committing to stopping sales of Chinese made pet treats, though they are hardly slamming on the brakes (it will take them at least till the end of the year) - still good for them. Seems unbelievable that we would not want to get to the bottom of what is killing pets before we allow processed chicken from China into our food supply. At least it looks like Chinese chicken won't be going into school lunches, thanks to an amendment to the 2015 Ag Bill, which is going to be voted on soon (though it will not protect against it showing up on your dinner plate).
Update 6/20/2014: Really just an update on where this stands. There was a hearing in Congress to investigate the new regulations to allow chicken processed in China to be sold in the USA (likely with no country of origin labeling requirements - and certainly no consistent requirements). Seems like the government is putting total faith in the Chinese to somehow properly regulate and self police their processing operations, what could go wrong? Since there is clearly money behind this horrible idea (companies will save a ton of cash by sending the processing jobs to China), it will probably go through.
Regarding human food safety, the record is similarly clear; the baby formula scandal in 2008 which sickened over 50 thousand infants (melamine again), another milk contamination scandal in 2011 (leather-hydrolyzed protein this time), heavy metals found in rice and the steroid clenbuterol found in pork in 2011. So in light of all this, when the question of allowing Chinese processors to import US grown and slaughtered chickens, process them into nuggets, patties or chunks without any on-site USDA inspection, then (despite the dubious economics) export those products back to the US market for consumption by humans, what did the USDA do? If you have been paying any attention lately you already know the answer, but in short, over the next year these products will be hitting our shores. And unlike the treats I feed my dog, you won't be able to find a "made in China" label on those nuggets, soups or other products containing Chinese processed chicken - there is no country of origin requirements for processed foods. This is likely the small end of the wedge to opening the US market to chicken grown and processed in China.
The US is not perfect in regards to food safety, but compared to China we are on another planet. If you feel similarly, there is a petition at change.org to keep Chinese chicken out of school lunches, which currently is 193,148 signatures short of the goal. It's not much, but a start that should have never been necessary in the first place.
Update: The change.org petition has reached 322k signatures (whoopie), still short of the 500k they are needing. Progress seems to be stalled out of late.
Update 6/9/2014: Stumbled on an article about some Chinese made duck treats being sold at Costco in Canada, which has some interesting points about how the FDA does not even know what is killing dogs (through renal failure, and GI distress) - yes appears this is still happening. Now the CDC is going to investigate. According to another article, some of the major pet stores are beginning to take notice, and are committing to stopping sales of Chinese made pet treats, though they are hardly slamming on the brakes (it will take them at least till the end of the year) - still good for them. Seems unbelievable that we would not want to get to the bottom of what is killing pets before we allow processed chicken from China into our food supply. At least it looks like Chinese chicken won't be going into school lunches, thanks to an amendment to the 2015 Ag Bill, which is going to be voted on soon (though it will not protect against it showing up on your dinner plate).
Update 6/20/2014: Really just an update on where this stands. There was a hearing in Congress to investigate the new regulations to allow chicken processed in China to be sold in the USA (likely with no country of origin labeling requirements - and certainly no consistent requirements). Seems like the government is putting total faith in the Chinese to somehow properly regulate and self police their processing operations, what could go wrong? Since there is clearly money behind this horrible idea (companies will save a ton of cash by sending the processing jobs to China), it will probably go through.
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