Most likely this is just a combination of greed and not having the regulations and controls that protect us (usually) in this country, but it is a concept to ponder. Let the Salmonella Wars begin!
Chinese Poison Train Declared Unstoppable: Next Stop, You!
Poison toothpaste, killer cough-syrup, and tainted pet food are the tip of the disgusting iceberg of yuck heading our way from China. Over the past four months, the FDA has rejected 298 shipments from China that included “filthy” fruits, cancer-causing shrimp, and “poisonous” swordfish.
Rejected items often reappear at U.S. ports several times; importers gamble that the FDA, which only inspects 1% of regulated imports, won’t catch them in the act. Their slip-ups are detailed in stomach-wrenching refusal reports filed by the FDA.
Our puny food safety laws are no match for the wiles of Chinese importers. Federal law only allows the import of meat from foreign factories that have been certified to match domestic safety standards. Since no Chinese factories are currently certified, crafty Chinese meat smugglers simply send us their meat labeled as something else.
So which businessmen are doing this, our or theirs or is it a combination. Isn’t this what the RICO laws were meant for?
I’m sure glad Gloablism is good for the US and all it’s citizens, I mean the NAU sorry old habits.
No.
Read what Jacob Riis and the other ‘yellow journal’ ‘muckrakers’ had to say about American food producers in the days before food production was regulated.
What we see from China is simply the seemingly-inevitable results of capitalism, where the corporation has every incentive to cut costs and boost output, and very little incentive to produce quality goods. This is especially true in cases like this where the goods in question are commodities, not branded, and the public assumes ‘all rice is rice.’
It happened in the Soviet Union too, so it isn’t a problem with capitalism alone.
The only solution I can see is if we the public support a vigorous press that actively, objectively, independently, and constantly checks the goods and analyzes them — and publishes the results without fear or favor.
A single government body can be helpful, but is too vulnerable to corruption by the very industries it is called upon to regulate.
Ehhh. It’s not really Chinese waging war on us — they suck even worse, food-safety-wise, in their own country. What we get are the semi-decent stuff over here, most of the time… That’s not to say that the food’s actually safe, mind you… But still. No need to be paranoid, here.
You lot better quit impressing folks with all this knowledgeable, reasoned commentary. Aren’t there any Fox Snooze fans left?
The article itself would qualify for Fox “standards”, seeing that it referenced events from 2 years ago – in Panama – as being part of “our” problem. Phew!
I’ve suspected they put cat in their Chinese food for the longest time.
Will someone please check my temperature? I may have a fever…
I agree with Traxx in #1
Well, at least in so far as food is concerned, I agree that globalization is NOT a good thing.
I live in Indiana (as you’ve heard me complain before) and unless I buy from a farmer’s market (which I wish I had more time to go to when they are held) the produce I buy at a grocery store probably travelled a minimum of 3000 miles to get to me, even in the case of crops that are grown locally. I don’t like the quality I typically see, and I don’t trust the industrial farming complexes where it was harvested.
Nothing beats the quality of food produced by your nearby farmer.
Anyone else noticed that Uncle Dave has adopted the Fox News’ habit, of making an implausible conclusion the title of his post – following it with a question mark. For example, “Dvorak blog — read it daily?” I knew it all along, it’s gotta be! That’s you, Rupert Murdoch, isn’t it!
You guys fail at hype mongering.
#5 – I wonder if they put cat in catfood – also, I wonder if the cats that eat the cat-in-catfood will get feline spongiform encephalopathy or vCJD from eating it…
This just proves stupidity is always a more likely explanation then any kind of other theory.
#10 – In other words…
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. — Hanlon’s Razor
Or if you like, Robert Hanlon’s quote has been combined with Arthur Clarke’s Third Law and it reads:
Any sufficiently advanced cluelessness is indistinguishable from malice.
#7: That’s my new title — Uncle Dave: The Poor Man’s Rupert Murdoch! My puppet masters (Murdoch, O’ Reilly, Limburger, Rove, et al) have taught me well!
#11 truer words etc…
Remember when Made in Japan meant it was junk? Wellll the Chinese are one food poisoning away from that kind of reputation.The major food companies are scared shitless of what could happen.Pet food sales are way down as a result of the last round of Chinese capitalism and the same could happen to some human products.As the CEO of one major company said “Do we want to destroy our Cake mix business to save 80 cents a pound on High protein flour?
Seriously. Why on earth do we need to import food from China? Don’t we have enough of their TVs, toys, housewares, and the other 98% of what fills your local Wal-Mart?
Isn’t there ANYTHING the U.S. produces anymore besides job loss and bankruptcies?
This is pure capitalism at work, as defined by the right wingers. We don’t need no stinking laws to protect consumers, the marketplace will sort it out and the bad guys will fall by the wayside.
I still believe that EVERY import from China has to post a bond and pay for testing by a qualified lab to ensure that it will meet American standards. Accepting goods from China is just a crap shoot at the moment and their certifications can’t be trusted.
#14 – .Pet food sales are way down as a result of the last round of Chinese capitalism
You know… I have to ask… If pet food sales are way down, what are the pets eating?