”Made in China” Ping.
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Posted on 10/14/2007, 2:11:07 AM by JACKRUSSELL
Food and Drug Administration officials held high-level meetings with their counterparts in China this week and said yesterday that they expect an agreement by December on improving the safety of food exports.
FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, in a conference call from Shanghai, offered few details about the agreement the two countries have been negotiating since July.
"They are as concerned about confidence in the quality and safety of food and drugs, as we are in the United States," von Eschenbach said. "They are anxious to collaborate with us."
Negotiations will continue when Chinese officials come to the United States this month.
"I hope this announcement results in a legally binding agreement that implements effective practices that would establish equivalency standards for food safety between the U.S. and China," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), a frequent critic of FDA's oversight of food safety, said in a written statement.
She said she hopes the agreement will allow FDA inspectors to enter the country without delays like those encountered this year after pet food in the United States was found to contain tainted ingredients from China.
FDA officials have acknowledged that the current safety system has not kept up with the increasing volume of imports. The FDA inspects less than 1 percent of imported seafood, fruits and vegetables.
Officials have said that rather than increase inspections, the agency is likely to propose the greater use of technology to track and identify risky imports, or to test food at ports of entry rather than sending it to labs......
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Rather have two pairs of pants made in the States than ten made in china or mexico
To keep relations, we’ll agree to permit a maximum of 20% biological and chemical adultrants for Chicom food imports.
A "deal" on safe food implies a compromise in which case a middle ground between safe and unsafe food has been agreed upon.
Nice. "It might kill you, it might not."
What a deal!
After you've poisoned people's pets, feed them unhealthy foods and exposed their children to lead poisoning, it takes a LONG time to repair your reputation.
I've read that American toy companies can't keep up with demand this year, because consumers are so afraid to buy anything from China.
Our side has agreed to not tell us.
I will pay higher prices to get USA goods. Problem is no USA Company to give me those goods.
Will those who make this Agreement commit suicide,
or be willing to be publicly executed, when the next
poisonings occur?
I think not.
Senior Committee Investigator David Nelson testifies on behalf of all of the investigators about their trip and inquiry in China:
David Nelson: “Based on information gathered before and during the trip the staff has made the following observations. First, the Chinese food supply chain does not meet international safety standards. It is in fact responsible for very serious domestic Chinese food poisoning outbreaks. Second, the Chinese government appears to determined to avoid embarrassing food safety outbreaks in its export markets due to the damaging and potentially lasting effect this would have upon the ‘Made in China’ branding. Third, the lack of meaningful internal regulation of farming and food processing in China, the advanced development of the document counterfeiting industry, and the willingness of some entrepreneurs in both China and the united states to smuggle food stuffs that do not meet quality standards necessitates a much more vigorous program of inspection and laboratory testing in China and at US ports of entry than the Food and Drug Administration has been willing or able to pursue to date.”
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=839
>>>Food and Drug Administration officials held high-level meetings with their counterparts in China this week and said yesterday that they expect an agreement...
Humor of the day
Oh goody, more politicians that call lawyers when our lives are threatened.
All the while Dr. Evil (Ron Paul) promotes shrimp from the American Gulf Coast over the farm raised variety from our Communist Chinese friends.
I feel so much better now.
>>>over the farm raised variety from our Communist Chinese friends.
You mean those Chinese sewers, errr, fish farms, that the FDA put a hold on importing due to NONsanitary conditions?
that’s a lot of nudists!
yes they do but you don’t want to buy them because they are too expensive...
thankfully, the chi-coms have our immediate health in mind! or is it the current administration?
Sad thing is it is mostly republicans and their owners, the chamber of commerce, that still blocks country of origin labeling.
Please add me to your ping list.
I don’t care what agreement they come to, it’s meaningless to me. Even worse, I am even more suspicious now about anything coming from China. I would really like to say what I think, but I’ll get banned from FR.
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