US store chain cuts sales of food from China

Yahoo News ^ | Feb 12, 08 | Staff

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US grocery chain Trader Joe's said Monday it would stop selling food imported from China due to customers' concerns about the products' safety.

"Our customers have voiced concerns about products from this region and we have listened," Trader Joe's spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki said in a statement.

"All single ingredient food items sourced from mainland China are scheduled to be out of our stores by April 1," she said.

"We will continue to source products from other regions until our customers feel as confident as we do about the quality and safety of Chinese products."

[Michael_Michaelangelo]

Is a trend developing?

[cmsgop]

Good for them, I will miss the Tsing-Tao though.....

[mylife]

Good for Joe

[PAR35]

All single ingredient food items sourced from mainland China

So they'll continue to sell Chinese food as long as they can hide it in something else.

Form over substance.

[cripplecreek]

America still has a breadbasket. That seems like a real good place to look for food to stock on the shelves and in the freezers.

[null and void]

Yessssss!

[mylife]

You can find in in any asian market

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Unfortunately, almost everything else will contain some product from China. Most food additives, preservatives, etc. are manufactured in China. I had a heck of a time trying to find some cure for jerky that was not from China.

[metmom]

I wish they had stores in our area so I could shop there.

I like Chinese food, but make my own. I’ve found the local Wegman’s carries a whole ton of Japanese cooking products like soy sauce, sesame oil, teriyaki sauce, etc.

I always check to see if any oriental seasoning is Japanese or not.

[cripplecreek]

Good catch.

[jdm]

Isn’t Trader Joe’s frequented exclusively by metrosexual hippie elitists?

[null and void]

Isn’t Trader Joe’s frequented exclusively by metrosexual hippie elitists?

No

[jdm]

Oh, okay, sorry.

[Owl_Eagle]

I like Chinese food, but make my own.

But when I make my own, I never get enough MSG in it. What's Chinese food without the light-headed-nauseus-splitting-headache-tingling-skin-think-there's-a-very-real-chance-you-just-might-die-should-I-bite-the-bullet-and-call-an-ambulance-now feeling?

[toddlintown]

Cheapest craft beer in town.

[mylife]

Rice wine vinegar, Hoisin and Sriracha are about all you need and Sriracha is made in the USA

[JACKRUSSELL]

(Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.)

[mylife]

Sesame oil and soy too

[Sender]

If you want to try some bold natural teriyaki sauce, check out Veri Veri Teriyaki from Soy Vay (US made).

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

I don't buy ANY food that doesn't come from Canada or the USA...

These foreign countries don't know how to label anything properly and this is scary when you have to deal with allergy concerns.

[3D-JOY]

Wegman’s !!!

How I miss it.

The greatest home-owned chain I have ever had the pleasure to shop.

When in Fairfax, DC area, I can get to two new ones and a Trader Joe too. I will have to remember to thank them.

Can you find any Mandarin Oranges NOT from China? I can’t.

Suburban Rochester, NY until retirement.

[FR Class of 1998]

That’s Whole Foods you’re thinking of.

[null and void]

LOL!

It was the word “exclusively”...

[null and void]

light-headed-nauseus-splitting-headache-tingling-skin-think-there's-a-very-real-chance-you-just-might-die-should-I-bite-the-bullet-and-call-an-ambulance-now feeling?

And again an hour later...

[AFreeBird]

No!

They have some good food there, and have you ever heard of "Two Buck Chuck"? It's a wine brand (can't recall the vineyard off hand) they carry, maybe a little over $2 a bottle depending on where you are, but actually a pretty good wine.

A lot of organic foods and other stuff you might not find at your local Kroger or whatever big chain store you shop at.

If you have one in your area check them out. Hell, them actually listening to the concerns of their customers over Chinese products ought to be reason enough to wander in for a look see.

[Enterprise]

[glock rocks]

Is a trend developing?

Hope so. Must be time to make another Trader Joe's order.

[hope]

One more good reason to do business there.

[mylife]

I think you are thinking of “Crate and Barrel” or some such place

[Vicki]

That is good news and I hope others follow.

[HonestConservative]

kewl.

[thefactor]

in other news, trader joe’s increased its prices by 72% due to rising costs.

[Enterprise]

"Charles Shaw is known in local circles as "Two Buck Chuck," said shopper Mercy Malick."

'Two Buck Chuck' Wine Cult

[Enterprise]

"Isn’t Trader Joe’s frequented exclusively by metrosexual hippie elitists?"

Hee hee hee. I have shopped there for a long time now and I aint NONE of those!

[sweetiepiezer]

Thanks for the ping JACK.

This is a start anyway.

[AFreeBird]

Thanks. Chuck Shaw... I’m terrible with names.

[AFreeBird]

He also controls more than 30 square miles of California vineyards. And he thinks big. Next he plans to take on invading Australian wine makers.

"We're going to take 'em on. Slap 'em around as hard as we can!" he said.

Ha ha. I like that.

Although I do like some of the Aussie wines. Black Opal at around $5~$7 at the grocery is pretty good. I like their Merlot. Not too dry.

[Blogger]

Ping

[Dengar01]

Good! There is a Trader Joe's by me. I will start shopping there now.

We are being poisoned by this crap from China.

[Theo]

AWESOME!!!!

[AFreeBird]

Black Opal at around $5~$7 at the grocery is pretty good.

Damn, I meant Black Swan. I told you I was lousy with names.

[metmom]

I thought some of the mandarin oranges I’ve bought were from Spain. I’ll check next time I can but I’m sure I saw that.

We live near the largest Wegman’s in the chain, and they’re renovating it, adding even more stuff, and it’s ALWAYS mobbed.

Funny thing is, some of the stuff I like the best I can’t find there. I find it at TOPS instead.

[metmom]

I found that sesame oil is the thing that gives the most authentic Chinese restaurant flavor to home made.

[metmom]

What is Sriracha? Never heard of it and I do a fair amount of Chinese cooking. I have some good cookbooks.

[mylife]

Yeah, I like the toasted sesame oil. Just a “little bit”

[metmom]

I’ll have to look for that.

[Cicero]

All single ingredient food items sourced from mainland China So they'll continue to sell Chinese food as long as they can hide it in something else.

I don't think there's much they can do about it, at least not easily. The problem is that almost all prepared foods are likely to have at least some Chinese ingredients, and there's no way of telling. It might be added in some third country, or by a supplier, but it won't be on the label.

Until the government gets serious about this, it's a real problem.

[american_ranger]

Sorry, do to the libs in congress, our breadbasket is to busy growing corn for fuel to be concerned with food. Import more form china. We don’t have enough melamine in our food now. China will provide it.

[angkor]

>>>>”All single ingredient food items sourced from mainland China

What the heck is a “single ingredient food item”? Poisoned dog food has more than one ingredient. So do candies made with date rape drugs. I suppose the fish grown in black mucky ponds loaded with thousands (millions?) of human contraceptive pills might be “single ingredient”.

Recently I bought a bag of spicey peanuts “sourced” from Singapore (not from Trader Joe’s though). I checked very carefully. Wasn’t until I got home that I found they teeny weeny type “Product Of China”. To the trashcan they went.

TJ’s needs to be a bit less obtuse with this policy. Something like “We don’t sell foods with ingredients from China.” Period.

[mylife]

Sriracha