by frog
Mother Jones has an icky story about imported Chinese food in the USA involving contamination, salmonella, bateria and pesticides.
At one [poultry] plant, inspectors had found paint from the ceiling “on the table used for edible product,” while workers at another facility wiped down meat-handling areas with dirty cloths. Parts of a third factory, designated for sanitary operations, were contaminated with “grease, blood, fat, pieces of dry meat, and foreign particles.”
The amount of food involved is huge;
Chinese food exports to the United States have nearly quintupled in the past decade, from roughly $880 million to more than $4.2 billion, and the People’s Republic, after Canada, has become America’s second-largest seafood supplier. China’s pharmaceutical exports to the US have more than quadrupled in the past five years, and some 3,000 Chinese firms now sell medical devices in the States. Such is China’s reach that American consumers would be hard pressed to find certain items, including vitamin C tablets or heparin, manufactured anywhere else.
It’s pertinent to remember that we have just signed a preferential trade agreement with China that includes provisions that make it easier and faster for China to get its goods through our our customs and biosecurity. Provisions such as Article 57 (Release of Goods) which guarantees that New Zealand will release Chinese imported good from customs within 48 hours of their arrival..
The US has similarly been green lighting the process for Chinese food imports to make their way unimpeded into US stomachs. Constantly both here and in the states the issue is portrayed by regulators as one of trade rather than consumer safety and consumer choice.
So for instanc,e despite ongoing concerns about food safety:
In some cases, oversight has even been outsourced to China. In June 2007, responding to an epidemic of Chinese seafood containing carcinogenic chemicals and banned antibiotics, the FDA announced that certain products would be held until cleared by lab tests, but allowed Chinese labs—notoriously unreliable—to do the testing. Six weeks later, the Associated Press reported that at least a million pounds of the targeted seafood had hit American plates and stores untested, despite the agency’s directive.
It would be relevant at this point to ask what protections consumers do have here in New Zealand from imported food? How much food is tested at the border and how thoroughly is it tested? Remember, we as consumers currently have no guaranteed way of knowing if food comes from New Zealand or not because the government refuses to introduce country of origin labelling for food, so we can’t make the decsion for ourselves.
Published in Environment & Resource Management by frog on Thu, August 28th, 2008
Tags: China, country of origin, Food, food safety, Free Trade Agreement, poultry, USA
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
Alarmist, xenophobic nonsense. Stop with the foreigner bashing.
The biggest food-related threats to Kiwis, by a country mile, are all related to poor hygiene in the kitchen when preparing food from any source (and domestically produced chicken features high on that list.)
Yet you would have us believe that, contrary to all the evidence, it is in fact the filthy yellow peril we should beware. The Chinese poisoning the wells, eh?
Your ugly campaign for origin labelling is as contemptible as any other call for discrimination. In essence, you are demanding that all goods from Israel come clearly marked with a little yellow star.
“It would be relevant at this point to ask what protections consumers do have here in New Zealand from imported food?”
The same as from domestic food, hence there is no problem. Supermarket chains go to great lengths to ensure the food they sell is fit for consumption, wherever it originates.
And of course, xenophobes are perfectly entitled to band together and open their own shop with all the additional labelling they wish. Yet for some reason you continue to try and force your prejudices (and costs) onto the rest of us.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
When all the “directors’ of the NZFSA have at least a degree level of qualification, I will be able to put some faith in their work. As it is, the best manager they had there reduced his role to one that furthers the national good only, as he was sick of the internal politics and mismanagement if informed opinion is anything to go by.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
“Alarmist, xenophobic nonsense. Stop with the foreigner bashing.”
Yes indeed, “wat dabney” is slagging off kiwis, claiming that we practice poor hygiene in our kitchens, how dare s/he make such a xenophobic statement?
In the interests of free trade, we must pretend that all jurisdictions produce food to the same level of safety, therefore we don’t need to know where things are made. Don’t you realise that frozen chickens have feelings? How would you feel if you were discriminated against due to your country of origin?
…and next time you get an e-mail from Nigeria offering you a great deal, remember that it’s racist to refuse it.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
I like to know where my food is coming from so I can support locally-grown, or Fair Trade or organic – why shouldn’t people have information anyway? What are they afraid of?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)
It is appropriate to raise the whole issue of food ‘Made in China’ at this time, with the recent Fonterra connection and the many children affected by this scandal. I had a lovely Chinese girl working for me for eight months who told me some horror stories.
The problem starts there with the water used for processing food. Why do you think that the hotels in Beijing advise you not to get the water near your mouth whilst showering?
The other problem is to do with the high levels of pollution in this country, which leach into the soil and are then readily absorbed into crop and vegetable production.
I understand from a radio broadcast yesterday, that a well known NZ brand of baby foods is now made in China. Not for my babies thank you!
Scan the food shelves in your supermarket before you buy – you will be surprised.
We all have the right to know where our food originates, whether it be in New Zealand or elsewhere. This is not xenophopia – just plain common sense!
Like or Dislike:
0 
0 (0)