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Vermouth
03-16-2012, 09:40 AM
China has a terrible record of using pesticides that are banned in the US. In addition, Chinese corporations try to cut corners by adding chemicals to food. Many Chinese agricultural products are sold in US supermarkets unlabeled.

Do you remember the story a few years ago where babies in China died from kidney failure because melamine-formaldehyde resin "an inexpensive nitrogen-rich chemical used in plastic manufacturing" had been added to baby formula to make it look like it contained more protein?

Since then, there have been other atrocities. Egg-laying hens were fed "gossypol, which binds with protein in egg yolks. Gossypol has also been used as a key ingredient in tests to develop a male contraceptive pill, although in this case it was used to produce a large, healthy-looking egg yolk."

From Foreign Affairs:

"Since the powdered milk outrage four years ago, companies have been caught making ham laced with pesticides, counterfeit alcoholic drinks, fake baby formula, contaminated vermicelli, adulterated pickled vegetables, carcinogenic chili sauce, and canned fish that contained a dangerous fungicide. Making matters worse, early last year, Mao Qunan, the director of the Chinese Health Ministry's Public Information Center, announced that certain journalists "with a neglectful and unserious attitude" would be blacklisted from reporting on food safety because their reports risked harming the development of China's food industry.

...

So far, China's food safety story has no happy ending. In the last 18 months, news outlets have published reports of glow-in-the-dark pork (thanks to the addition of the carcinogenic chemical clenbuterol), exploding watermelons (loaded with harmful growth accelerators), rice contaminated with heavy metals (the result of polluted soil), mushrooms imbued with bleach (to make them look fresher), and bread covered with starch (to hide mold). Perhaps the most disgusting of these incidents is the "recycling" of cooking oil from China's drains and gutters treated to look like edible oil. After being gathered in the night and filtrated, this "distilled sewage," noted China Daily, is sold in the morning as clear-looking oil to unwitting restaurant customers. Aflotoxin, a deadly toxin, is often added during the process.

...

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, China has one of the highest rates of chemical fertilizer use per hectare, and Chinese farmers use many highly toxic pesticides, including some that have been banned in the United States. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that only six percent of agricultural products in China could be considered safe. Many farmers use antibiotics to control disease in livestock, often at dangerously high levels.

...

China is one of the world's largest producers of agricultural products, and it exports roughly $5 billion worth of those products to the United States every year. Although supermarket labels may not indicate it, a growing proportion of the U.S. diet is now made in China. When Americans drink apple juice or eat tilapia, cod, or canned peaches, mushrooms, spinach, garlic, there is a good chance they are eating a Chinese product. And that food probably has not been tested: Only 1.5 percent of Chinese food imports, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, are inspected

..."

(my bold above)

original article: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137329/thomas-n-thompson/glowing-pork-exploding-watermelons

MMC
03-16-2012, 10:00 AM
This should be a concern to all of us in this country. Also with prescription Drugs.....especially generics. My family watches what we buy in food items. So as to reduce more of that Chinese Imprint.

Mister D
03-16-2012, 10:09 AM
Not sure if it's because I'm on the east coast but not much of my produce is Chinese.

Conley
03-16-2012, 10:19 AM
Not sure if it's because I'm on the east coast but not much of my produce is Chinese.

How do you know for sure?

I have bought a couple of bags of frozen Tilapia here. They have big American flags on them and say farm raised. If you look very closely at the back of the bag, it says it is an American company that is bringing the fish over from China. Needless to say, I never bought the product again!

Mister D
03-16-2012, 10:34 AM
How do you know for sure?

I have bought a couple of bags of frozen Tilapia here. They have big American flags on them and say farm raised. If you look very closely at the back of the bag, it says it is an American company that is bringing the fish over from China. Needless to say, I never bought the product again!

It's usually tagged with a "produce from X". The asparagus I just bought last week was from Peru. My garlic is actually from California now that I think about it.

Conley
03-16-2012, 10:36 AM
It's usually tagged with a "produce from X". The asparagus I just bought last week was from Peru. My garlic is actually from California now that I think about it.

I know they have the stickers and sometimes the produce signs will say where they're from, but I just don't know how far back they track it. For example, the Tilapia was from a California company but it actually originated in China. I'm probably over-thinking it but I just hate the idea of eating anything that comes from that country, and I eat a ton of spinach - probably more days than not.

Mister D
03-16-2012, 10:41 AM
I know they have the stickers and sometimes the produce signs will say where they're from, but I just don't know how far back they track it. For example, the Tilapia was from a California company but it actually originated in China. I'm probably over-thinking it but I just hate the idea of eating anything that comes from that country, and I eat a ton of spinach - probably more days than not.

What can you do? I just go with the labels. My cauliflower says US. I'll have to pay more attention. I buy the Dole baby spinach. It's on sale a lot. I'll have to read the label and see where it's grown. Unless it's frozen the logistics for Chinese produce are difficult or at least I think they are. Once they arrive out by you they would have to be shipped across the US.

MMC
03-16-2012, 11:00 AM
Damn near makes one want to grow their own food. I tell ya. My Grams was big on her own vegetables.

Conley
03-16-2012, 11:20 AM
Damn near makes one want to grow their own food. I tell ya. My Grams was big on her own vegetables.

Definitely makes me want to do that. Would be great to have a whole self contained farm - back to the idea of a compound without government or outside interference.

MMC
03-16-2012, 12:27 PM
Definitely makes me want to do that. Would be great to have a whole self contained farm - back to the idea of a compound without government or outside interference.

I am all for it. Self Sufficent and Militarily capable if necessary. :wink:

Vermouth
03-17-2012, 01:32 PM
I didn't know generic prescription drugs could come from China. Geez.

Sometimes I put canned pumpkin on my kids' oatmeal if we're out of fruit. One time I bought an off-brand because the store was out of Libby's. It tasted disgusting, but I figured it just needed some sugar. It was still gross tasting, even with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. So then I thought I won't give any more to the kids, I'll just eat the rest myself. After the second day, even I couldn't stomach it. It was a big can and I felt bad wasting it, but I threw it away. I kept the second can, in case of emergency. I just looked at the can - MADE IN CHINA. Ugh! God knows what's in it. I just threw it away.

My canned tomatoes (organic but store brand) and canned/dried beans don't say where they're from ... hmm. I checked the produce in the house. It was all okay (US, Mexico, Panama) except the sweet potatoes and garlic didn't have stickers.

Mister D
03-17-2012, 01:38 PM
The labels on some vegetables (e.g. asparagus) I can't help but notice. I just bought some white asparagus from Peru and it's kind of hard to miss. I checked my Dole baby spinach out of curiosity. Produce of USA. California I believe.

Conley
03-17-2012, 01:43 PM
I didn't know generic prescription drugs could come from China. Geez.

Sometimes I put canned pumpkin on my kids' oatmeal if we're out of fruit. One time I bought an off-brand because the store was out of Libby's. It tasted disgusting, but I figured it just needed some sugar. It was still gross tasting, even with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. So then I thought I won't give any more to the kids, I'll just eat the rest myself. After the second day, even I couldn't stomach it. It was a big can and I felt bad wasting it, but I threw it away. I kept the second can, in case of emergency. I just looked at the can - MADE IN CHINA. Ugh! God knows what's in it. I just threw it away.

My canned tomatoes (organic but store brand) and canned/dried beans don't say where they're from ... hmm. I checked the produce in the house. It was all okay (US, Mexico, Panama) except the sweet potatoes and garlic didn't have stickers.

Hey good to see you Vermouth! That is a scary story.

Conley
03-17-2012, 01:44 PM
The labels on some vegetables (e.g. asparagus) I can't help but notice. I just bought some white asparagus from Peru and it's kind of hard to miss. I checked my Dole baby spinach out of curiosity. Produce of USA. California I believe.

I looked in my fridge and my bagged spinach is USA (Fresh Express).

Sometimes those stickers are really hard to get off produce, it's annoying and they leave an adhesive residue.

Mister D
03-17-2012, 01:51 PM
They usually have them wrapped in think rubber bands with the origin printed on them. That's what I mean by label.

Conley
03-17-2012, 02:02 PM
They usually have them wrapped in think rubber bands with the origin printed on them. That's what I mean by label.

I think it's eggplant that bothers me the most. We eat the skin (good roughage) and the sticker messes it up. Same with cucumbers and squash. Maybe we shouldn't eat the skin with all the chemicals and pesticides though. Even tomatoes have the stickers though, at least here.

Mister D
03-17-2012, 02:05 PM
I can't stand the mulignans. :angry: :wink:

A lot of tomatoes here have the stickers you're talking about. The funny thing is the nicer the tomato the more likely it is to have a sticker.

ramone
03-17-2012, 02:15 PM
Not sure if it's because I'm on the east coast but not much of my produce is Chinese.

Most of my stuff comes from the great state of Texas, the Pace picante being #1.

Mister D
03-17-2012, 02:22 PM
Most of my stuff comes from the great state of Texas, the Pace picante being #1.

Mrs. Renfro's comes from there too.

MMC
03-17-2012, 02:56 PM
I thought someone brought up about Canada getting generics from China as well. That we get a lot of those imports with those types of meds. I take it Canada would Change the labeling. Though I am not sure on that.

They had one of those dollar stores around here. They had all kinds of cosmetics from China that were bad. Toothpaste that looked like Colgate. Mouthwashes, aspirin, and vitamins. Laundry detergents and cleaning products. Even Make-up. They ended up closing the place down.

Mister D
03-17-2012, 02:59 PM
China is the land of knock offs.

Peter1469
03-17-2012, 03:12 PM
I get most of my stuff from local farmers.

Mister D
03-17-2012, 03:32 PM
I rarely have any complaints about market produce but that might be because I don't eat fruit. A lot of people around do complain about the quality of fruit during certain seasons.

Peter1469
03-17-2012, 06:17 PM
I don't eat much fruit either. Too much sugar.

ramone
03-17-2012, 06:36 PM
This thread inspired me, well somewhat anyway. I bought a pair of wolverine boots over a year ago, best boots I've ever had. Better break in than RedWing and lasted longer. Just for shits and giggles I checked them to see where they were made. Guess where it was. China. I didn't know wolverine had a china shop. Still the best boots i've ever had.. That sucks, because I'll buy another pair just like them.

Mister D
03-17-2012, 07:04 PM
I don't eat much fruit either. Too much sugar.

True. The fiber helps offset it a little. I do like fruit juice but I try to limit it to about a pint a day.

Mister D
03-17-2012, 07:05 PM
This thread inspired me, well somewhat anyway. I bought a pair of wolverine boots over a year ago, best boots I've ever had. Better break in than RedWing and lasted longer. Just for shits and giggles I checked them to see where they were made. Guess where it was. China. I didn't know wolverine had a china shop. Still the best boots i've ever had.. That sucks, because I'll buy another pair just like them.

Don't get me wrong. Knock offs can be of good quality.

ramone
03-17-2012, 08:54 PM
Don't get me wrong. Knock offs can be of good quality.

Yeah, but I never thought Wolverine would be made in China, Same thing with RedWing I guess. Hell, you don't even know now days.