”Made in China” Ping.
(Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.)
Posted on 09/02/2007 8:08:16 AM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
When the 65 steel drums crossed from the Canadian border in late April, the accompanying documents said they contained honey from Canada, according to U.S. government officials. Since most food products from Canada are considered safe, the honey normally would have sailed through U.S. customs.
But U.S. inspectors noticed something odd.
The green steel drums were marked as containing apple concentrate from China, one official said. When Food and Drug Administration investigators examined the honey inside, they found chips of green paint -- most likely from the drums themselves -- floating at the bottom of some drums. And laboratory tests of the honey revealed the presence of ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic banned in the production of food in the U.S. but often used in the making of honey in China.
The probe of the honey, still open after more than four months, demonstrates the difficulties U.S. port inspectors face when it comes to policing imports, even on products that have drawn years of extra scrutiny. It's unclear who the importer is in the case.
The Chinese steel drums and the antibiotic led U.S. officials to believe that the honey shipment was actually from China, not Canada, said the official, who declined to be named. If so, it would not be the first time that the FDA has raised doubts over Chinese honey imports.
Accusations that China was dumping low-priced honey on the U.S. market prompted the federal government to impose trade quotas in December 2001, and the FDA a year ago issued an import alert on Chinese honey due to concerns over the presence of banned antibiotics.
"It's just another sign to us that we have this huge number of imports and no way to get a handle on it," said an FDA chemist......
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Did you get a replacement Russell yet ?
If they keep running these stories, Americans will impose an effective boycott by not buying chinese goods. That will let the FDA off the hook.
Do they know the identity of the exporter? Aren't they required to list the address of where it was being sent?
anything worth money has a buyer and a seller and lots of paperwork.
for shame!
If it is at the bottom it isn't floating. I guess journalism students' GPAs float at the bottom of the university.
This is the direct result of American companies outsourcing their production offshore in order to save and pocket millions of dollars at consumers expense.
Even brand name recognition is not a guarantee that a product is safe anymore because it is probably made elsewhere.
Support your local farmers market!!!
FDA is not set up to deal with the import increase that our feds are putting on them.
Result: We will be poisoned. Maybe not killed right away, but poisoned all the same.
For the life of me I cannot understand why we have so many laws and regulations for our farmers. What chemicals and fertilizers can and cannot be used. Then we import produce from other nations whose standards are different.
God only knows what was used on them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have seasonal produce year round, but I think we are shooting ourselves in the foot.
Like everything else, you have to be careful buying anything.
I’m fortunate to have a neighbor down the road who runs a small honey operation, so I know it’s as safe as honey can be.
Chinese honey, and other contaminated crap isn’t just sent over, it’s purchased by some less than honest crook HERE, looking to make a fast buck at the expense of their fellow American’s health. These are the people the FDA has to go after. Obviously there is good money to be made, otherwise they wouldn’t go through such lengths to smuggle these goods into the country.
The destination for these goods according to another report, isn’t only the grocery store shelves, it’s bought up by res truant owners looking to save a few bucks at your expense off their supply costs.
More and more people are. Local farmers markets have experienced quite a bit of growth in the past few years, as more and more people are looking a little closer at what they are eating. Nothing tastes better than fresh produce that you prepare or "process" yourself.
Importers can also use private laboratories to clear seafood into the U.S. if food is detained under an import alert. While that practice puts the cost of the lab work on the importer, it also invites corruption if a shady importer can persuade a private lab to produce a desired result. "The FDA has been trying to crack down," said Hiep Tong, customer service manager for Anresco Laboratories in San Francisco. "What they used to not know about is some people getting things tested with different laboratories until they have an acceptable result. Now they [the FDA] make the importer verify that this is the first and only time they tested the product, and if not, they must state so."
To paraphrase David Letterman. ‘Our Labor Day is coming up...it should be celebrated in China.’
“Nothing tastes better than fresh produce that you prepare or “process” yourself.”
Except what you grow, harvest, prepare and process yourself.
Problem is you buy a product that is full of ingredients...honey for instance, and you have no idea what the nation of origin is for the honey. The product may be produced in the US, the ingredients...it’s anybody’s guess.
But in this case, the product would have been fraudulently labelled "Made in Canada".
There's no way to boycott Red China if you cannot identify their goods. In this case, they were clumsy enough to get caught. They won't be the next time.
I think that we should simply cease all normal trade with Red China. It won't help with these type of third country tricks, but it would be significant enough to at least put a crimp in Red China's vast export profits since I believe that we are still the largest source of profits for them, although we are only now a small fraction of their total trade.
“Problem is you buy a product that is full of ingredients...honey for instance, and you have no idea what the nation of origin is for the honey. The product may be produced in the US, the ingredients...it’s anybody’s guess.”
Too true, and there is some legislation floating around now that would require more labeling of imported food products. Of course, industry and foreign nations oppose it. Maybe all this recent negative publicity will contribute to better labeling laws.
Labeling is something else US citizens need to become loud about because I think corporations have had their way too often in the past, and will continue to do so absent citizen input such as during the shamnesty legislation effort.
Poll: 92 percent want ‘country of origin’ labels
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19709686/
This is an issue currently being considered in Congress.
CC Hillary.
BUY AMERICAN
Purchase products that are 100% MADE IN THE USA!
Continue to take a stand and be a voice for our pets and our loved ones! Do everything you can to boycott goods made by China and this includes ingredients made in China, Chinese plant processing and Chinese exporting!
Our animals couldn’t speak for themselves.
Were they the canaries of the food chain?
We have to protect our families now.
BOYCOTT CHINA!!!!!!
Here is a list of a few items made in USA.
Made in USA
www.ussstuff.com
www.madeinusa.com
www.stillmadeinusa.com
http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/profile.cfm?id=246
http://travel.discovery.com/Ratzenberger-America_Goods_Goods.shtml
http://howtobuyamerican.com/
http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-utah/444718-1.html
http://www.americanapparel.net
http://www.jwod.com/
TOYS made in USA
www.FatBrainToys.com
www.ShopForAmerica.com
www.ZebulonUSA.com
www.usmadetoys.com
www.unclegoosetoys.com
www.holgatetoy.com
www.maplelandmark.com
In addition if you patronize craft shows, most of them have American-made handmade crafts.
Be sure not to lick envelopes that are made in China.
“The Agriculture Department never put in place the labeling requirement because then-majority Republicans repeatedly delayed it, most recently to 2008.
The law’s leading opponents are grocery stores and large meatpacking companies, many of whom mix U.S. and Mexican beef, along with other businesses involved in getting products to supermarket shelves. They say the tracking and the paperwork needed to comply with the law is too burdensome and would cause them to raise prices.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19769975/
The law’s leading opponents are also some of the USs’ biggest employers of illegal aliens. They simply don’t want US consumers to know where some of their food comes from because they know many consumers might decline to purchase food from some nations.
Great corporate citizens those sorts, or maybe they’re examples of the new transnational corporations we hear so much about.
Also another area where Republicans need to stop being lap dogs for corporate contributors.
The case could definitely be made that more substantial improvements would be made to public health by beefing up food import inspections than subsidizing prescription drugs.
Won’t happen though...
That's ok, Mr. FDA chemist, the free traitors will be sure that we taxpayers spend some more millions on their dangerous/cheap imports to get them inspected. Whatever it takes, right?
Do realize that more inspectors, another bureacratic layer will be needed to deal with dangerous imports. As usual YOU will pay for the free traitors to prosper as they tell you their global business isn't subsidized by US taxpayers.
I have a friend who worked in produce for a major grocery chain. He developed the darndest rash from handling produce imports from Mexico. Yes, you’re right they can and do use any and every chemical they can get their hands on. They do the same (Mex drug cartels) as they grow their dope on thousands of acres of our national forest/park lands.
“And laboratory tests of the honey revealed the presence of ciprofloxacin,
an antibiotic banned in the production of food in the U.S. but often used
in the making of honey in China.”
Free Cipro?
I guess this fits the Mainland China idea of a “value-added product”.
Even if it was most likely not at any sort of level to give protection
against anthrax and other nasties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciprofloxacin
“They do the same (Mex drug cartels) as they grow their dope on thousands of acres of our national forest/park lands.”
Maybe that’s what Jorge meant when he said: “Family values don’t stop at the Rio Grande.” One of Mexico’s biggest industries (or is it the biggest?) using our national park land for Mexican agriculture, providing jobs and income for Mexican families.
our nation is poorly prepared to deal with what is happening here. The only thing our elected want is more control and power. Costing us a hell of a lot of problems.
My question is, is the inclusion of such antibiotics in foodstuffs contributing to the antibiotic resistance that we’re seeing? Cipro is one of those “magic bullet” antibiotics that is used as a last resort. If cipro doesn’t kill what ails you, you’re kind of screwed.
I can buy Florida orange blossom honey. There are always those who say “the problem is....” as an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for themselves. Let them take their chance on relying on the government. Then there are those who rely on themselves.
Most are going to rely on the big food producers, supermarkets and whatever they can learn from labels. That’s just the way it is. But if we don’t have some labeling laws and inspections, your “Florida” orange blossom honey might be from somewhere in China unless you watch it being removed from the hive.
FDA is Dems favorite agency.
You two must be some of those ‘comical’ people President Bush referred to last week at the SPP Summit who are concerned about becoming joined at the hip with the government and poverty and ignorance of Mexico.
His plan to secure us? Give $800THOUSAND to a BILLION per year to MEXICO for them to fight drug cartels. Now this is interesting because Homeland security tells our local sheriffs who are fighting the same Mexican drug cartel, ‘Not our problem’.
Now, all this talk could just go away if they weren’t so secretive about their meetings and plans made by their corporate buddies.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0708/21/ldt.01.html
BUSH:” I’m amused by the difference between what actually takes place in the meetings and what some were trying to say takes place. It’s quite comical, actually, when you realize the difference between reality and what some people are talking on TV about.”
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0708/20/ldt.01.html
JOHN FONTE, HUDSON INSTITUTE: Well, I think the SPP is very bad policy. I don’t think a conspiracy is at work. But I think it definitely has long range implications for sovereignty, particularly on border security and immigration policy. We’re talking about — one of the suggestions is to harmonize, to bring together a border security policy — the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Well, these are these are policies that are determined by the Congress of the United States, the parliament of Mexico and by democratic bodies. So there’s nothing wrong with cooperation.
I am all for cooperation between the three nations of North America.
But the SPP, as it’s presented, is very ambivalent. It’s very murky. And it’s going to cause a lot of bad policy issues.
FONTE: One problem with the SPP is the suggestion of one border for North America. That’s both in the SPP recommendations and in the broader discussion. We should really need — a North American border in the been beginning would be fine as long as you had an even stronger American/Mexican border and American/Canadian border.
But there is talk of one card where you could get a cheaper, easier border identification to get through. This would be an open invitation to fraud. So this is very bad policy.
There’s also a discussion of labor mobility, which means essentially open borders within North America.
won’t work. already done. aid going to mexico, no enforcement. they are too corrupt to complete the smallest task.
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