Back in August, The New York Times reported that the USDA had lifted a ban and approved chicken imports from China by allowing four processing plants there to ship processed chicken to the U.S. for human consumption. The chickens are to be slaughtered in the U.S., shipped to China for processing, and then shipped back to the U.S.
With the price of food the way it is today I hardly think this is a cost saving and China doesn’t exactly have the best track record on food safety.
Only recently the FDA tied the deaths of more than 500 dogs and the sickness of at least 2,500 pets to imported chicken jerky treats. As a matter of fact, since 2007, Chinese imports have included tainted baby formula and evidence of the chemical melamine in pet food and eggs, arsenic in calamari and rice, maggots in pasta, and glass chips in pumpkin seeds.
In recent months, China had an outbreak of avian influenza that they were hesitant to report, and just this March Shanghai authorities retrieved more than 11,000 dead pigs floating in a river.
And let’s not forget the incidence of rat, fox and mink meat being sold for lamb in Shanghai, or the 175 people that were sickened by insecticide-tainted dumplings that prompted Tokoyo supermarkets to pull Chinese-made meat products from their shelves. Then there was the poor woman who purchased uncooked pork in Shanghai only to find it radiating later that night from phosphorescent bacteria.
YUM!!!! Kind of makes you wonder why the FDA trusts the approved Chinese facilities to self-verify that the chicken products they are shipping back to the U.S. actually originated in the U.S. or Canadian.
Tyson Foods, Sanderson Farms and McDonald’s Corporation have already stated their intention of NOT importing processed chicken from China. But you may only have their word. Since the chicken will be raised in the U.S. or Canada, Chinese-processed chicken will be allowed to skip the ‘Product of China’ label because the country of origin labeling law, or “COOL,” does not regulate cooked meat.
Senator Charles Schumer says the USDA plans to green-light poultry raised and slaughtered in China, according to an article by Marilyn Assenheim. Aside from giving China importation rights that would negatively impact American farmers and jobs, why would the USDA do such a thing?
The answer is “Because it can.” Typical of the Gordian knot that is the U.S. government, the USDA is, for all intents and purposes, independent. It answers to no one. And like all federal agencies, it is bloated and gargantuan.
While Congress can, technically, override USDA actions, the last time that happened was … well … NEVER. Congress has proven itself less than willing to naysay any other governmental entity. It would be surprising if this impending decision was handled any differently.
Senator Schumer said the initial USDA report to Congress indicated aspects of the Chinese slaughter system to be equivalent to that of the U.S. But, in a hasty attempt to walk back their assessment, the USDA said it is “legally obligated to review requests from countries waiting to export, but it has not finalized its audit of China.” Hold that sigh of relief. “not finalized” is the operative phrase.
Perhaps this is just another far-left agenda to depopulate the world. Since there is not enough drones to whittle earth’s population to a managable size, poisoning our food supply could be a viable option. Oh, wait, they’re already doing that through genetic modification.
