The Obama Administration has quietly opened up the U.S. market to Chinese chicken – a move that alarms some public interest groups. Many consumers avoid China foods, including pet foods, due to a long series of contaminated and poisoned products coming from that country. Now the U.S. will allow four Chinese poultry plants to send processed chicken to American markets while hiding their origin. The problem is that by cooking the chicken, China can avoid new country-of-origins labels (COOL) at delis and other stores — resulting in consumers eating Chinese food products without knowing it.
The Chinese plants passed inspection and will be able to start processing chicken that has been slaughtered in the U.S. or other countries. This follows a hold on the operation after outbreaks of bird flu occurred this year in China, causing human illness and death.
A petition from Food and Water Watch accused the Administration of caving to Chinese pressure to secure a broader market for U.S. beef imports and said that China continues to fall behind on health and industry standards:
“It has been no secret that China has wanted to export chicken to the U.S. in exchange for reopening its market for beef from the U.S. that has been closed since 2003 due to the diagnosis of a cow in Washington State with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease. Today’s audit report reveals yet again that USDA is willing to allow trade to trump food safety.”
The loophole in country-of-origins labels (COOL) worries many that they will not be able to choose to avoid Chinese products. Presumably, delis, schools, and stores can still alert consumers but those using the cheaper products are unlikely to do so (though presumably delis and stores could advertise that they are China-product free as many pet stores have done).
Raw imported meat or fish have a COOL label describing where it was raised, slaughtered and processed. Chinese cooked meat will not have such a label and may be coming to schools and stores near you.
Source: Politico
Contaminants taste like chicken.
My wife and I completely refuse to eat any food from China. It is not worth the risk. USDA inspections might be worthwhile, but as soon as the inspectors leave the plant who can trust that proper means will not be used. Moreover, even if it leaves the plant ok, what will happen between then and it arriving in the US? Will it be allowed to thaw and then become contaminated or will it wind up in some other product having even more lax food safety practices.
Of course the US government will dither on this. That can be expected. Every one of us need to look after our own interests when it comes to food. A safer way is to not buy any product that is processed or cooked.
The best way will be for people to only buy food that is wholesome. But when there is an epidemic of obesity and poor food choices made nationally I unfortunately don’t believe most individuals will consider this when they can buy Chinese chicken nuggets for dollar less per pound.
Hell, I love having LEAD in my chicken…. Let’s feed some to the President and the ‘least family’…. for, They are, in fact, my tasters. And, while we’re at it, let’s also declare, Barack ‘Yo Momma’ as the winner of the contest for, ‘America’s WORST ‘Resident’. Let’s serve this chicken for lunch, every day, at the Obummer children’s schools…..
Will it be chicken? A couple of years back the Europeans were surprised to learn they were eating horse (fast food).
COOL is not cool.
Parts is parts.
John,
Chipotle is getting flack for buying it’s beef from New Zealand…..at least we know they have some conscience. The right wings and the neonazis want to get get of the FDA and any government regulations altogether…. Seems like a good business move for them….
Then sellers here will have to come up with a stamp that lets people know that that product was produced here, and people will need to stay away from buying food anywhere else.
@bc – maybe the delay fits with the Obama admin. plans to reduce chicken inspections in the US. Believe chicken inspections are presently done by Gov’t inspectors – business instead wants chickens inspected at 2 or 3 times present speed and to be done by lower paid employees of the chicken producing company. Obvious moral hazards?
Oh goodie just what the corporations without borders wants…. No FDA they can do as they please, no tort liability as liability is limited…. Beautiful system the Koch Brothers has instituted with ALEC… Yippie…. RIL
The date on the source article is a few days short of being a year old. It seems odd to have it posted here now. Is there a more recent source of information or has something else prompted this posting on a year-old Politco article?
This issue is not really a country of origin labeling issue as much as it is a general product labeling issue. And as American business is against any additional product labeling, especially as relates to GMO, American consumers may have to be poisoned or die en masse before so called “market forces will act to put things right” (really bc?). Americans being poisoned vs the chance an American import corp. may be able to report quarterly earnings up an additional penny. In todays business environment, sadly, this is a no brainer.
China must have made a huge, laundered, donation to the DNC and the Obama Library to get this perk.
What is it with this Administration? I know he wants to be the first international president, but this is ridiculous. China is not our friend. China does not adhere to the same standards that we do in the west. And we continually cede to other countries the ability to dictate the future of ours.
How open is China to American chicken?
Not to mention you don’t know if you’re eating a dog or a cat. Not to mention a Chinese firm would season the thing with rat poison if they could save two cents a bird.
bc, I really don’t want my family to have to wait on poisoning and market forces to put things right. For banking, healthcare, and many other aspects of this economy, possibly, but not this one.
Maybe stop a couple of bomb orders and pump up food inspections and guidelines. This a way more real problem than goblins in the middle east sneaking up on you. Our food supply is very vulnerable. Apparently short-term aggressive and immediately life-threatening diseases along with degenerative diseases including cancer are not hot-button issues.
Frank Perdue quote: “Who do you write to in Washington? What do they know about chickens”.
If the Chinese chicken poisons a significant amount of people, market forces will act to put things right.
We have enough scumbags in this country who try to cut corners putting consumers at risk. Why on earth do we need to go abroad for foreign scumbags. We have a government to safeguard what we eat and use. And, what about the jobs we lose having stuff we eat and use processed in China? This sounds more like lobbying and special interests than the best interests of Americans.