Posted on 05/05/2008 1:30:15 PM PDT by newgeezer
WASHINGTON—In March, inspectors checking Chinese seafood arriving at U.S. ports made some unsettling discoveries: fish infected with salmonella in Baltimore and Seattle, and shrimp with banned veterinary drugs in Florida.
Meanwhile, a shipment intercepted in Los Angeles on March 19 and labeled "channel catfish" wasn't catfish at all, though records don't say what it was.
"A lot of those products coming in from overseas, you have no clue as to what is in them," said Paul Hitchens, an aquaculture specialist in Southern Illinois, where cut-rate Chinese catfish are threatening the livelihood of fish farmers.
China rapidly has become the leading exporter of seafood to the United States, flooding supermarkets and restaurants. And while China agreed late last year to improve the safety of food exports, the inspectors' March findings were not isolated cases.
According to Food and Drug Administration records examined by the Post-Dispatch, inspectors turned away nearly 400 shipments of tainted seafood in a year's time from China.
The records told a troubling tale, but even more troubling was what they didn't tell. Only a tiny fraction of imports are inspected at all, and even fewer are tested.
...
"When you look at less than 1 percent of shipments, and sample and test maybe one-fifth of those, there's no way you can protect the American food supply," said Michael Taylor, a former FDA official who is professor of health policy now at George Washington University.
...
FDA officials are requesting new authority, including the ability to license private companies to assist with inspections. But the Bush administration has signaled opposition to key provisions that would require regular inspections in foreign lands and limit ports where food can arrive to docks with FDA labs.
Former FDA officials argue that change is urgently needed.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Our local grocery stores are full of frozen Chinese shrimp and fish. I’m not buying it.
...(foreign food provider to fill in the blank),...the other white meat
I'll bet a huge share of it is fished just outside our territorial waters, but who is counting?
I got some seafood last summer that almost killed me (literally - I was in the hospital for months)
And who knows where the generic medications that the insurnace companies try to foist off on you come from. The same folks who sold us poison dog food, lead painted toys, and HEPARIN are selling generics for ultimate consumption in the US.
Try buying something from Walmart made in USA. I remember years ago Walmart slogan was Made in the USA.
Unfortunately this highlights the necessity of a gov't. Without gov't inspections and testing, we wouldn't know there was a problem, until we died and then we probably still wouldn't know. Without the state requiring labeling on country of origin, we wouldn't even know what's coming from China vs America.
Gov't can't protect us from all risks, but there are some things that I'm glad Gov't is looking at.
And we should be grateful for their junk!!
Needless to say, I bought the gulf shrimp. (No price difference with the Chink shrimp)
Uh, just out of interest, was it at a restaurant? I have one of those stomachs that eating something like that might kill me.
I am very glad you recovered.
Death-by-cheap-salmon ping, my little omnivore.
“”When you look at less than 1 percent of shipments, and sample and test maybe one-fifth of those, there’s no way you can protect the American food supply,””
But, but...it’s cheap!! It wouldn’t be so cheap if these importers had to pick up the tab for inspectors, port agents, billion $ xray machines (that don’t work), recalls, deaths, illnesses, not to mention the tax breaks, instead of the taxpayer.
Me either. Nothing from Asia. Some from Central and S. America.
Ciguatera?
I've looked for labels to try to determine the origin of various meat products in my grocery store--to no avail. Not a single indication.
It irks me no end that I will probably see a global warming footprint on my food before I am allowed to know where it came from.
Don't forget infrastructure. Port expansions, highway maintenance, etc.
All of it is subsidizing foreign products and driving domestic producers out of existence.
Non-government entities have done a better job in other areas (like UL-listing for electrical devices). There doesn't seem to be much to back up the idea that government can do this better. In the specific case of food safety, some could argue that government has made things worse (like prohibiting "extra mile" labeling on milk products, universal cattle inspections with products marked accordingly, etc.)
A big problem with "government standards" is that people will then assume that anything that meets those standards is adequate. In such a market it may become difficult to find (or at least identify) products that exceed those standards, because producers are required to identify their products only with language, symbols, grades, etc. that the regulatory standards allow.
Another consequence of such government regulation is that some products (for example, raw milk) can be banned despite the fact that some consumers actively desire those products.
Personally, I would trust the kosher mark of a rabbinical council for food quality far more than I would trust some government bureaucrat.
Are you sure the importers aren't billed for the inspections?
As you think about that, recall that in ancient times, the Romans and others would catapult disease-riddled corpses over the walls of cities they besieged to sicken and kill the enemy. The Chinese know that history even if we obviously have forgotten it. Get my drift there?
On a recent visit to China, a friend spotted this ad in a Beijing newspaper. He sent me the photo with a translation of the ad copy.
Yes, you can now join the millions of happy and prosperous Chinese citizens taking advantage of the growing numbers of American and Western multinational corporations “outsourcing” their production to the hard-working and industrious people of China. This outsourcing has now spread to their food supplies and ingestible items. Since these firms pay us for gross weight – and this new weight will be pretty gross – and the stupid American government only spot-checks imported items in these categories (they just got lucky on the anti-freeze thing), it has opened an entirely new opportunity which our beloved Chairman is offering to any Chinese citizen willing to do a little of what the foolish Americans call “grunt work.”
Installing one of these state-of-the-art food additive production facilities behind YOUR hovel is as simple as clipping the coupon below and sending it to the address shown. Your production plant will be shipped to you in 4 to 6 weeks. Supplies are limited so don’t fart around. ACT NOW!!
These silly Americans have an expression we have “borrowed” and modified to describe this new and exciting venture: “Don’t give me any s**t.”
Our motto will be “We won’t GIVE you any s**t. But we’ll SELL it to you fools at a really great price.”
Better yet, we convince them to COME HERE to pick it up and save us the shipping costs.
AND LOOK FOR A NEW DROP-DEAD MONEY-MAKER COMING SOON. SOYLENT YELLOW PROMISES TO BE BIG!!
AND YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED TO KNOW THAT THE “CHERY” PERSONAL VEHICLE TO BE IMPORTED BY CHRYSLER IS SIMPLY A HORIZONTALLY MODIFIED VARIATION OF THE VERTICAL UNIT SHOWN ABOVE. WE SIMPLY SLAP AN ENGINE AND SOME WHEELS ON THAT PUPPY AND OFF SHE GOES! AMERICA’S VAST ILLEGAL POPULATION OUGHT TO SNAP THEM UP LIKE TACOS.
“Are you sure the importers aren’t billed for the inspections?”
Pretty sure. Do you think the US Goverment is billing Wal mart and the $ store and their biggest political donors?
Show me.
Oh? On what basis? More than just a gut feeling?
Do you think the US Goverment is billing Wal mart and the $ store and their biggest political donors? Show me.
LOL. Nice job of emoting there but, let's stick to the facts, 'kay?
Back when I worked on-site for a few beef processors, I got the impression that the processors pay for the mandatory USDA inspections. Just for you, I looked to see what I could find and, indeed, that is the case.
Now, you're the one who made the claim. So, are you running on anything more than your feelings? :-)
Hang on Mr. know it all. You’re putting words in my mouth. I said show me. You showed me where domestic meat plants pay for meat GRADING, not even the inspection!
From your link: “How is Beef Inspected?
Inspection is mandatory; grading is voluntary, and a plant pays to have its meat graded. “
Your deception isn’t even any good.
Now, show me where importers of Chinese, etc. imports pay the US Government back for tax dollars.
You said, “I got the impression”
You first said, ““Are you sure the importers aren’t billed for the inspections?”
This isn’t bout USDA in country meat inspections or grading is it?
IMPORTS.
Forget your impressions. Your insulting answer is IRRELEVANT!
SHOW ME!
Ah, once again, we see the “benefits” of Free Trade.
My mother ordered 3 small one quart crock pots and they arrived today. (from china) Not one of them works so I tore them apart and found that all 3 ground wires had come apart due to shoddy solder jobs.
Meat inspection is different from all other foods. The FSIS does meat inspection and their inspectors have to be in any plant shipping meat to the US. I’m not aware of any other food product (or drugs for that matter) that have the same inspection requirements.
“Meat inspection is different from all other foods. The FSIS does meat inspection and their inspectors have to be in any plant shipping meat to the US. I’m not aware of any other food product (or drugs for that matter) that have the same inspection requirements.”
Exactly? What do you say, newgeezer?
We gotta buy this junk so grit your teeth and accept it.
If we don’t buy their junk, they won’t loan us the money.
Like oil, we’re hooked and we’re addicted and we just can’t help ourselves. So, buy, buy buy like there is no tomorrow as there may not be one soon.
Hey, at least my ‘facts’ came from experience and some cursory research. Yours?
“SHOW ME”? LOL. Like I said, you’re the one who made the claim in the first place.
Okay, maybe in your world, whoever pulls a thought out of her sphincter is automatically right until proven wrong.
Regardless, I gave it a shot. It’s your turn. Show yourself.
Valid points, but the reason that UL-listings work is that most municipal communities require products to be UL-rated in their building codes. So UL-Listing isn’t functioning in an entirely free market, even if the firm that does the ratings is an independent non-profit.
The problem you described with government standards exists if standards are private or non-existent. If government standards are insufficient, one would expect that the private market would demand better. But they usually don’t, because frankly, individuals don’t have time to become safety experts on thousands of different products. That’s why we turn to rating agencies and government regulations. There are areas where the free market is inefficient or results in unacceptable situations.
For example, without building codes, housing would be much cheaper and more competitive. But it wouldn’t be as safe. That’s why practically every municipality has codes, because we deem “not as safe”, to be an unacceptable outcome. Have we gone too far? Perhaps. But it’s always going to be a balance. No regulation results in chaos, too much results in hell.
Somewhere in between is better than either extreme.
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