Here in Australia, it has recently become law that any fresh product (meat, seafood, fruit and veges) MUST be labelled with its country of origin, as in 'Product of Australia'.

It makes decisions SO much easier!

We have that law also - Linda just didn't read the package before she bought it! We get a lot of fresh fruit from Chile in the winter, and I'm pretty much okay with that. However, I will not even buy garlic from China. If everyone started boycotting food from China (especially fish and meat), we would have fewer problems, I think, although the price of food in general might go up.

Lars

I'd return it to the store. Even though wild is better, I don't trust the Chinese in food prep/packaging.

Nope - I would not eat it, nor would I feed it to a pet. Compost pile if you ask me.

Speaking of which, I was in an HMart for the first time - saw all sorts of neat stuff but ended up buying only a package of black taosted sesame seeds from California. I would not TOUCH the other foodstuffs from China.

Alexa

I am eating one filet for dinner.....
worry if I don't post tomorrow!
Wouldn't think of feeding it to chabby....she weighs 7 pounds....I weigh considerably more...what 4oz of fish would to to me is considerably less than what it would do to my dog.
Anyhow...it smells fresh, is firm and nice.....but...??
Anyhow...I'm eatin' some tonight!

I wouldn't eat it or any other food from China.

Lars, I know we have a law here that states that packaging must show country of origin but it isn't happening.

I was buying meat at Publix and noticed that their ground beef said it was a product of Canada, US and Mexico. I and a lot of others stopped buying it because it had Mexico on it. Then I noticed it no longer told the country of origin and neither are the other stores in my area. I'm wondering if they are getting around it by placing the country of origin on the large container meat comes and and not showing it on the packaging. I rarely buy meat anymore except from Costco and I'm not sure about theirs.

I probably wouldn't give it to my cat either!

LindaC, I absolutely do not trust food products from China, but I'd probably eat it and check carefully before I bought any more fish.

Annie (who is very happy that the salmon in her freezer was caught in Lake Michigan!)

I was at the Dekalb Farmers Market a while back. All their produce and fish are labelled prominently as to country of origin, just like they're supposed to, but what stopped me in my tracks was this:

Fresh squid (I assume 'fresh' means 'never frozen' but I may be wrong) "Country of origin USA, processed in China"...Now I don't know what the going wage is these days for American squid-cleaners, but apparently it was profitable for a company to catch squid in American waters, ship them to the People's Republic of China, have some very low wage worker clean them, and then ship them back for sale in the USA--all while 'fresh'. Amazing. I know we've outsourced virtually all consumer electronics manufacturing to Asia, along with textiles and a good portion of our autos--h*ll, we don't manufacture virtually anything anymore but movies and lawsuits--but squid-cleaning? We're a country of 330 million with over 10% unemployment. and we can't clean our own *&^%&(!@ SQUID????

Sorry for the rant. There. I feel better.

I guess I am the only one to disagree here. You are not eating a steady, daily diet of the product so I see no reason to not to eat it. Frankly, I worry more about the fish from some of our own waters. Anyone see the rivers around here lately? Very scary.

And Arley, you are right, we won't clean our own. We are too far above that. Go figure.

I wouldn't think twice about eating it.
I buy those packages all the time and dh loves them. I don't care for the quality and don't eat much but then I love farm raised salmon and that's not good for you either.
Are triscuits any worse? Or any other manor of packaged processed food? How about bacon? Or a snack wrap from McDonald's? Or Crisco? Or beef and pork that's not organic?

I guess I live dangerously or perhaps, cheaply.
I can afford a package of china salmon but wild Alaskan means a 2 hour drive and $12.99 a pound.

Bye Linda, we'll miss you! hahaha!

Ahhhhhh bumblebeez I miss farm raised salmon too. I prefer it to the wild, but I'm not going there.

My reasons for not eating 'Chinese' food, even in moderation, is (1) who knows what is building up in your system with every bite (2) I'm sending a message with my wallet.

Yes, we ingest/breathe lots more carp. One battle at a time.

I love Kroger's 'All American Seafood' packages, with large red/white/blue USA logos, and in small print on the back, product of China.
Arley, rant away.

If I every visit China, which is a distinct possibility as I have been invited twice, I will eat and enjoy lots of different foods. I often shop at Asian markets and buy lots of imported products without qualms. Admittedly, I don't buy much imported fresh meat, fish or poultry, mainly because most of the fresh stuff is domestically grow. I steer clear of frozen farm raised shrimp not matter where it's from because the conditions under which it is grown make it unappetizing to me.

What troubles me more is that I can't buy any manufactured goods which are not made in China. American companies no longer seem to make anything here. I resent having no choice, but it isn't practical any longer to avoid buying Chinese goods. Look around your kitchen at the small appliances, cookware and gadgets if that sounds like an exaggeration.

Jim

I guess it irks me that all those who won't touch a Chinese product love Crisco in their pies and cookies (not you Lindac). Now that's poison!
I prefer vodka these days anyway. :)
Although the outsourcing is plenty reason to be patriotic.

(And yes, it should be manner- I made a spelling error- quelle horreur!)
Off my soapbox now...

Ummmm.... I don't eat food that orginated in China OR Crisco in my pies, cookies, or anything.

Bonnie

Ummmm, no Crisco in anything for me either, thank you very much.

Beverly

Well....I ate and it was good....
I disagree in principal....but since I bought it....I ate it!
Crisco works very well for seasoning cast iron...

Linda please post in the AM to assure us you are still alive

(I don't think ANYTHING can kill YOU lol)

I won't food products from China either. And recently I saw in a very upscale cooking catalog a product for seasoning iron pans. I called to find out what was in it and was told the product didn't say, but that it was made in China. "No I don't want it if it's made in China, especially since it doesn't list ingredients." "I wouldn't use it either," replied the sales person.

I survived....but now I am wondering where that oyster sauce in the pantry was made.
Linda C

Glad to hear you are still among the living, Linda.

LOL, I've also eaten it and survived, and I've used honey from China, etc. Glad to see you are still among the living, LindaC.

BUT, I now make a conscious effort to avoid Chinese produced food stuffs because of the horrendous record for food safety. Sometimes it's not possible to avoid all products from China but I now make sure I check the label, then ask if I really NEED the item. Many times I don't and it goes back on the shelf.

And I use Crisco or shortening about twice a year, I won't say never, but nearly never, because the molasses cookies at Christmas just aren't the same without shortening.

Of course, it's easier for me, I don't like pie crust!

Annie

I won't eat anything that comes from China. I don't consume Crisco either.

I hope you all who are complaining about Chinese products drive cars from American car companies!!

Has anyone ever noticed how much candy is now made in China as well?

Yes, stir fry, we do. Ashley has a Pontiac Starfire, I have a Jeep Wrangler, Elery has a Oldsmobile Bravada, Amanda has a Chevy Tahoe, and we have an "extra" car, a Chevrolet Cavalier.

So far Ashley's Starfire has 166,000 miles, my Jeep only has 67,000. Elery's Bravada has 190,000, Amanda's Tahoe has 230,000 miles and the Cavalier has 240,000. They all still run fine and the only major expense was a transmission for the Jeep. Probably my bad driving habits, LOL, since I use it as a farm truck.

Before Dad passed away he was counting up the number of vehicles he had purchased from a local Chevy dealership, and they were all General Motors Products. By the time I added mine and my brother added his and my stepmother added her and Mom added hers, our family has purchased 62 vehicles from the same Chevy dealership.

I will admit, however, that a million years ago in another life I did have an MG Midget. I'm the only person in my family who has ever driven an "import".

Annie

I drive a Honda....which is probably more American than General Motors and Ford combined.

The oyster sauce was made in Malaysia....hmmmmm?

Oh lindac - you could not be more wrong. Ultimately, the profits of your car purchase go back to Japan, not the good old USA.

Sorry it is a pet peeve of mine when people bash Chinese products and what it has done to America and then drive away in their Japanese cars...

Anyhow, not a salmon eater but DH and father are. Can someone tell why is "farm-raised" bad?

I won't eat anything from China and try not to buy any products made there. I get discouraged when I go out to buy kitchen items and they are all from China. They have too good a reputation for using deadly stuff in what they put out. It seems everything is made there anymore. Sure, they jail the owners of the companies that manufacture the deadly products, after the fact.

We have a Ford pickup with 189,000 miles on it, a Ram pickup with 60,000 on it and a 16 year old Toyota Corolla with 70,000 miles on it. I inherited the Toyota from my aunt and love it.

stir_fryi--We complain about Chinese food products because their food is tainted. It's not a jump-on-the-bandwagon-recent sort of thing. It seems like you're getting at Americans bashing Chinese when you ask us about driving Japanese cars; that is, I'm not sure what cars have to do with melamine poisoning? However, if you put "Chinese tainted food" in Google there are several news articles that go back for years. It's not a jump-on-the-bandwagon recent sort of thing. It seems like you're getting at Americans bashing Chinese when you ask us about driving Japanese cars. I'm not sure what cars have to do with melamine poisoning? If you put "Japanese tainted food" in Google, the only articles that come up are how the Japanese consumed Chinese food that was tainted! We are accusing those who did the work. There are cases where American, United Arab Emerites, South Korean... babies drank melamine tainted forumla... it was worldwide. If it happens once or twice, well, then it was an accident. When it happens on an ongoing basis for years, that's more questionable. We can't change history, nor pretend that is everywhere. It's one country, China. This about imported food, not all products from China.

I quit buying frozen fish here in Wisconsin, from China or anywhere. Being from the PNW, I hate not having a source of fresh salt-water fish. DH and I got our fishing licenses and decided to settle for any lake fish we can catch. I'm currently thawing some Crappie we caught last summer.
I can't find any canned mushrooms that are not from China. And, the price has shot up to boot. I've started freezing fresh, but it sure was handy to have a few cans on hand.

Even our local big lakes have high pcb levels and the fish
caught there have limits on how much is to be "safely" consumed each week. It's a small piece per person. Nope.

Let's face it...China just about owns our country lock, stock and barrel.

Perhaps the ultimate profits from my Honda go back to Japan, but mean while it's provided jobs for a lot of American workers, and since the volume of Hondas made and sold is so great....that's a lot of jobs. Some models of Honda have more American parts than some "traditional" American cars.
And...where do you think he ownership of the steel plants in Ohio is located? India!
So your American Ford is made with some foreign parts and some American parts which are made of steel in the US by plants with Indian ownership.
And part of the investments which provide me income with which to buy salmon packed in China included Honda Motors.
Yes...it's a global economy.....
But I still avoid items made in China.
Linda C

I know this is going to p/o someone, but how can you bash an entire country for a few instances? What about all that good old USA beef that is contaminated and recalled, over and over... Korea wouldn't accept American beef for a very long time, if they even do now, e coli on spinach, tainted jalapeno peppers, salmonella on chicken, mercury and PCB's in our lakes and streams, the list goes on.

I'm not defending some of the horrendous things that Chinese manufacturing has perpetrated on the consuming public, in China and the export market. And if these incidents make us all more diligent and aware of what we are consuming, domestic and imported, then great. Read labels, look for points of origin, buy local, grow/catch it yourself, can it, freeze it, know what you are eating. Why is an American manufacturer putting high fructose corn syrup in processed horseradish? I now get it from my neighbor who grows and grinds his own, I know what he's putting in it.

So, be aware of what you buy, domestic or imported, perishable or durable goods. Buy the best quality you can aford regardless of who makes it. Are you going to use a crappy domestic made knife over a superior import just because it's domestic? Complain to domestic manufacturers / purveyors if the quality isn't where it should be. They don't know if we don't tell them. or don't buy it. Hit them in the pocketbook. And please don't bash an entire country's output because of a few, albeit serious, problems.

The great thing about all this is we are free to chose what we eat. It doesn't matter what anyone else's opinion on our food choices is, now does it?

The pet food thing made me crazy too. Oh, and the toothpaste thing two years ago IIRC.

Granted these are relatively small boycotts in the scheme of things but what is scary about boycotting products from China is that they own $800.5 billion in U.S. Treasures. I can't imagine the implications for our economy if we tick them off.

Pet food, baby formula, tires, dry wall, toys...

It's best not to generalize (or as someone said, "NEVER generalize!").

The incident with the melamine was especially egregious because the baby formula was deliberately adulterated to cut cost. That's different from accidental contamination in a production line which is being run according to accepted standards.

Jim

I would guess that the squid caught in American waters was processed on a Chinese owned factory ship just outside American waters -- thus "processed in China". This is how most sea food is processed -- on factory ships at sea, caught, processes and frozen very quickly.

I too have joined the camp of being very cautious about what I buy that comes from China.... too many foods/products are now being found to be contaminated or made of dangerous/inferior base-goods.

I generally avoid Chinese foodstuffs, too, but sometimes it's hard to do so.

We're drifting a bit off topic, but that's never slowed me down. As far as our own economy, it's hard to make informed decisions as to what is the most beneficial: does buying a car built in America (by American workers) from a Japanese company help the economy more or less than buying an American brand car which has a ton (literally) of foreign made parts? Hard to get an informed and neutral answer.

The economic woes which bedevil the USA right now are child's play compared to what would happen if our currency doesn't maintain its value. Thought experiment: imagine what would happen if China decided it didn't want to buy US Treasuries, and OPEC decided that the US dollar wasn't the currency that they wanted to be paid in for their oil. The upheaval would be worse than 1929. So when the politicians of every stripe blithely talk about 'monetizing the debt', that's just jargon for 'running the printing press', which leads to inflation and loss of purchasing power of the dollar...which is in and of itself in indirect tax which hurts those at the bottom more than anyone else.

On those happy thoughts, have a nice day!

" Posted by arley -----
The economic woes which bedevil the USA right now are child's play compared to what would happen if our currency doesn't maintain its value. Thought experiment: imagine what would happen if China decided it didn't want to buy US Treasuries, and OPEC decided that the US dollar wasn't the currency that they wanted to be paid in for their oil. The upheaval would be worse than 1929. So when the politicians of every stripe blithely talk about 'monetizing the debt', that's just jargon for 'running the printing press', which leads to inflation and loss of purchasing power of the dollar...which is in and of itself in indirect tax which hurts those at the bottom more than anyone else."

Exactly.
In the State Of The Union speech, Oboma has already promised to borrow even more.
Guess where this will lead us to?

dcarch

Just checked my pantry for the origins of canned mushrooms

Publix brand: from Indonesia
Happy Harvest: (I think I got these at Aldi): from China
Pennsylvania Dutchman: from USA

Lindac, back on track for a moment...was your salmon from Costco or another brand?

The topic of boycotting food from China comes up frequently. I must have a simple mind. I can understand the emotions, but I simply cannot understand the logic behind the reasoning. Here are my simple minded views:

Regarding health:

The fact is very simple to me. The top longest life span/expectance in the world is in three areas, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore where they practically import 100% of their food from China.
I have a diversified palate. I am not going to die from eating anything occasionally. Life is too short; I am not going to let a small possibility of danger to stop me from the enjoyment of something that I really want to eat. I am going to take a chance on my trust of our system here to keep me relatively safe.
I am not sure which is worst for your health, ½ lb of fish from China or ½ lb of bacon fat.

At the end of the day, whoever gets to enjoy the most wins.

As to not buying imported stuff:

My view is also simple. I will always buy US made products if the price is not that different and the quality is not too bad. To do otherwise will be a questionable action to take. While itÂs a good patriotic intention to buy USA, but thatÂs one sure way to encourage non-competitiveness and low quality in this country for generations to come.
If the prices of imports are cheap, I will always buy the imports and use the money I saved to invest in our economy, our educational system, and our factories so that our economy will be competitive with other countries that do import and outsource to lower their costs so that they can sell cheaper than us.

At the end of the day, whoever gets to sell the cheapest wins.

Hey, itÂs a free country, do what pleases you. As a population, we have been making terrible economic decisions all along.

dcarch

Dcarch, once again you are the 'voice of reason' here, among a lot of hype.

I feel I can say that, I don't post often enough to raise the hullabaloo that would be raised if some others posted that same comment.

As for 'simple minded'? NO WAY!
At least not in the way that term is usually used!
Your food art and your knowledge that you so generously share, could not come from someone 'simple minded'.

And it is very much appreciated by some of us.

True, at times it does seem as though China is trying to kill us all off.
But then there are a lot of food problems that originate here, too.
And not all of us have the where with all to produce all of our own food.

So yes, I too, will buy and consume things produced in China, depending on the circumstances.

Rusty

Going way back to arly's rant (we can't clean our own *&^%&(!@ SQUID????) which I liked, I have to add that catching your own squid is great fun and you do clean all of it yourself. Can't wait for squid season.

Jim

Jim, I've never caught a squid, but I love the stuff, maybe I should add that to my list of "things to do on vacation".

As for imports, they very seldom are of any quality at all. Go to WalMart, buy some cheap crap. It breaks after two or three uses and you buy more cheap crap to replace it.

I'll pay the extra two bucks and buy something that will last longer, thanks, something not painted with lead paint and not contaminated with melamine and which has directions in English that I can understand.

Of course, it's not just China, but they have such a horrible track record, from kid's toys with lead paint to baby formula that killed their own children, from deadly pet food to contaminated honey and toothpaste. China needs to greatly improve its track record before I consider it a viable alternative in my pantry or my home.

Annie

Posted by therustyone

"Dcarch, once again you are the 'voice of reason' here, among a lot of hype. ---"

You are entitled to your own opinion. Others here may not agree. LOL

"-------Your food art and your knowledge that you so generously share, could not come from someone 'simple minded'. ------"

My simple minded viewpoint: I always believe that food is to nourish the body, and creativity is to nourish the mind.

"True, at times it does seem as though China is trying to kill us all off. ----"

I was at the NYÂs Museum Of Modern ArtÂs gift shop; they have very expensive and very high quality items for sale. Everything was made in China. But China is not who we need to worry about. India, Vietnam, Thailand, and North Korea in the near future are all try to kill us all. Is acting sour grape going to save us all?

dcarch

Posted by dcarch: "I always believe that food is to nourish the body, and creativity is to nourish the mind."

How right you are!

"But China is not who we need to worry about. India, Vietnam, Thailand, and North Korea in the near future are all try to kill us all. Is acting sour grape going to save us all?"
You are probably right on this, too.
Don't know why China always comes to mind first in these matters.
As I said, there is enough going wrong right here in the good ol' USA to make one wonder if we are tring to kill ourselves off! :>)

End of rant. For me, anyhow.

Rusty