Posted on 12/01/2006 2:33:53 PM PST by shrinkermd
When a food safety inspector walked into a market in Queens, he noticed the store had an interesting special posted on its front window: 12 beefy armadillos. In Brooklyn, inspectors found 15 pounds of iguana meat at a West Indian market and 200 pounds of cow lungs for sale at another market. At a West African grocery in Manhattan, the store was selling smoked rodent meat from a refrigerated display case. An inspector quickly seized a couple pounds of it.
All of it was headed for the dinner table. All of it was also illegal.
Authorities say the discoveries are part of a larger trend in which markets across New York are buying meat and other foods from unregulated sources and selling them to an immigrant population accustomed to more exotic fare.
State regulators have responded by stepping up enforcement, confiscating 65 percent more food through September than they did in all of 2005.
The seizures also cast a spotlight on the eating habits of this ethnically diverse city, where everything from turtles and fish paste to frogs and duck feet make their way onto people's plates.
"At one time or another, we've probably seen about everything," said Joseph Corby, director of the state's Division of Food Safety and Inspection.
In an attempt to stamp out the activity, Corby's agency has ramped up efforts, working with the Food and Drug Administration, to prevent this illicit food from reaching store shelves.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Versus legal mystery meat?
It all tastes like chicken anyway.
Lovely. Another element in our transformation into a Third World country thanks to unfettered immigration.
Now watch how the dogs and cats start disappearing in those neighborhoods.
"We Celebrate Diversity"
Yeah, what used to show up on Wednesdays in the ol' high school cafeteria.......
Um-Um good old beefy armadillo meat and smoke rodents! Sounds like a feast to me!
Eating mystery meat that most Americans wont. Thats why we need them!
I don't get it. Why is anyone complaining?
Perhaps if we required immigrants to learn English, we might be able to teach them our law, too.
Except I don't think a single American can reasonably understand every single law that's out there.
But hey, folks asked for diversity; now they are getting diversity.
</snicker>
P.S.
Nasher bought the chickens from a poultry market in Brooklyn, and said he didn't know he was violating state law.
"In Bangladesh, you didn't have all these rules," he said.
Nasher, you're not in Bangladesh any more.
Yeah. I have mixed feelings about it, however; at one time, markets in Spain used to have to sell skinned rabbits with the ears on - because otherwise, there was no way of telling them from skinned cats. Dar gato por liebre (offering cat as rabbit), in fact, is a Spanish saying.
So I wouldn't say I'm totally opposed to food inspection, but on the other hand, of course these people are going to have to get their rodents, armadillos, etc. outside of the normal meat suppliers. Silly interference.
GROSS
Don't y'all love multiculturalism now. s/
Uh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I can see it now. Charges of "eating while ethnic". Lawyers all over the place. The Council on Gastronomic-American Relations (pronounced see-gar) getting all wiggy.
Great green gobs of greasy grimey gopher guts,
Mutilated monkey meat,
Itsy bitsy birdie feet,
French fried eye-balls,
Rolling down a muddy street,
And I forgot my spoon!
Mmmmmmm... Armadillo and Fish Paste! For those refugees from Texas.
OTOH, isn't this racial profiling?
These places should be dealt with harshly and rapidly IMHO.
I catch my own rats. No big deal.
"It's not meat, but it tastes strangely familiar."
I saw rabbits like that in Dublin, too.
But I still won't eat it if it smells like fish.
High school cafeterias will shut down.
You obviously have never ventured into parts of Appalachia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Isn't those the kind of meats God invented bar-b-que sauce for?
My motto is "One man's pet is another man's meat -- but keep your hands off my Pomeranian."
That is hilarious--one of my favorite songs as a child. LMAO
My main concern is with the potential of disease.
"...Dar gato por liebre (offering cat as rabbit)..."
Truth in advertising is important and if a poor soul buys lizard meat and instead gets buzzard, which is against his religious beliefs to ingest, obviously the government needs to step in and protect the poor shmuck from hell and damnation. Personally, I find USDA choice salamander quite a delicacy (it must be a young salamader). <sarc obviously.
Cazart! How many thousand rats does it take to make a "couple pounds" of smoked rodent meat?
The real job of the meat inspectors is to make the world safe for Tyson.
Ah, Achmed, you brought us lunch!
Monkey jerky coming to a supermarket near you! I live in a small town and can't imagine going to my local meat market or grocery and finding all these things. Is there no escape from these third-world folks? FDA to fix laws so it is legal or what???
Reminds me of a joke here in the great state of Texas:
How many Aggies does it take to eat an armadillo?
Three--One to eat it, and two to watch for cars.
Those Aggies stuck it to us this year!!!!!!!
Years ago (in NYC,) I was with a Puerto Rican buddy of mine, and I was stoned or high or both, and agreed to follow him into some hispanic diner hole in the wall on Delancey Street.
He's ordering in his ethnic jibberish, while I'm trying to find the least repulsive looking food steaming away in trays.
I go for the meat.
After 30 seconds of jawing the tough "beef," and not recognizing the bones after a lifetime of eating beef, he tells me I'm eating horse spine.
After I regurgitated back onto the paper plate, I asked him what he was eating.
Pig ears - and the popping sound was when tooth pierced a deep fried cyst.
To this day, I prepare all my food by myself at home.
"I saw rabbits like that in Dublin, too."
What's wrong with eating rabbits? I had rabbit just a few weeks ago in a very popular restaurant.
I sure hope that's poison she's pouring in for those little rodents. They need some cats over there.
"After 30 seconds of jawing the tough "beef," and not recognizing the bones after a lifetime of eating beef, he tells me I'm eating horse spine. "
If you ever had beef in Italy, more than likely you were eating horse and didn't even know it.
Bayou natives in Louisiana export thousands of pounds of Nutria meat to France every year. For those not familiar with them, Nutria are large aquatic rat-like creatures.
Makes possum belly and pigs feet sound like normal fare.
< joke that would get me banned >* Never mind. < /joke that would get me banned >
Nothing. But it did freak me out a little, as I am conditioned to eat Brooklyn food, of which encompasses many foods, but not rabbits - geez.
Need some dinner ideas?
Once again, 'minorities hardest hit,' right? lol
There is a reason why Spam is so popular in the Pacific Isles, you know.
Tastes like Long Pork.
"What's wrong with eating rabbits?"
It has only one stomach and does not have cloven hooves, for starters.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.