Yes, I heard about this some time ago from a food safety email. It's beyond belief! The chicken will come back in processed foods--soups, frozen meals etc.

Are you also aware that the USDA is planning to turn the inspection of chicken in US plants over to the companies themselves? Nothing like letting the fox guard the henhouse.

I heard of this awhile back too and it sicked me. I sure hope there will be legislation that the label must state where all the chicken has been. I think they'll find out very quickly that nobody wants chicken that has been processed in China.
Its becoming a very crazy world.............

That's been going on for a while. I'm puzzled by the economics. It's amazing that it would pay to ship chicken carcasses across the Pacific Ocean and back.
But now I just read, two days ago, that Tyson is going to raise chickens in China. Saves a trip across the ocean, but scares me a lot more. I buy my chicken from the farmers' market. I'm sure it comes from something less than ideal-chicken-land, but it's raised in a neighboring county and I trust the guy I buy it from.

Just read an article about pollution in China...eating food that's raised there is dicey at best.

On bad days, you cannot see to the other side of a four-lane road...

Here is a link that might be useful: China's most polluted cities

Well, I guess raising chickens in China might save our rivers and lakes, which are being badly polluted by chicken farms. Butâ¦I hate the whole animal farm industry anyway, no matter which country it's in. It's just plain cruel.

Sally

Yes, I'd also seen that information some weeks ago. It doesn't surprise me, as it appears that agri-business like Tyson and Monsanto own our politicians. (sigh) That's one of the reasons I've been raising chickens and turkeys.

So, what's the alternative, other than raising your own chickens which just isn't possible for the large percentage of the population? Start writing and calling your politicians. They work for you, let them know what you like and don't like, and what you expect from them. Their job is on the line, they can be voted out just as quickly as they were voted in.

Truthfully, only about 1% of the shipments of food coming from China and other countries ever get inspected anyway. Do not trust that the government will keep your food safe, they can't/don't.

Annie

I saw that a few months ago. It is sickening, and will ensure that we never, ever eat prepared chicken products.

The Chinese food producers have made it appallingly clear that they have no qualms about killing people, even their own babies to make cheap products cheaper. They have adulterated pet food (we lost a cot to that one), baby formula, and vegetable protein products routinely used in many, many prepared foods.

And now the FDA turns around and allows this.

A while back I was at the DeKalb farmers market in Atlanta. (Great spot, btw). Saw some squid that was labelled 'Caught in US, processed in China'. Now squid cleaning is probably a icky job, but you would think that there would be some Americans willing to do that if the wage was sufficient; it's hard to believe that the wage differential is so great that it's cheaper to send the stuff halfway around the world to have that task done. It may well be that the stuff was processed on a Chinese vessel in the Pacific, and it had to be labelled as processed in China. Don't know if there are Chinese floating chicken processors, though. Nothing surprises me anymore.

On a somewhat related note, a line from 'Thirty Rock':

"GE brings good things to light, but bad stuff to rivers in China"

I am sick about this and have been for some time. I guess killing babies and pets isn't bad enough, time to move on to general population. I understand this is going on with pork, too. I read an engineering website--don't know how I ended up there--they were complaining because they found out that after getting approval from various government entities to build windscreens for a certain plane a certain way, and getting contractual assurances from a Chinese firm that all materials would be in compliance, that firm arbitrarily and unilaterally decided to substitute flimsy plastic instead, which would have resulted in disasters, had the U.S. firm not decided to re-analyze the product before putting into operation. The issue is not about capability, it's about values. Value human life or not? The egregious human rights violations committed by the Chinese do not appear to worry many of our large corporations at all. I am fortunate to be able to raise my own chickens and have direct access to local farmers. Still, I am beyond apoplectic about this. I do not believe outsourcing food production and processing is a healthy idea for our country. I should never have read this thread today. Now I am in a rotten mood. Spare me the one world feel good propaganda.

Write to your congressperson. This is the sort of issue that some of them would be interested in.

Post on your Facebook or otherwise let your friends know about the issue. Encourage them to write as well.

Buy locally raised birds. Buy whole birds. Do your own cutting up and get homemade chicken stock for your trouble.

I am trying to think if we ever eat commercially processed chicken in any form. It might be a few times a year.

I find it odd that the haddock I buy frozen, which comes from the N. Atlantic off of Iceland, is processed in China? So do they catch it, freeze it on a ship going back to China, thaw it and process it in China, then refreeze and ship to US. What a journey! And that's economical??!

This post was edited by lpinkmountain on Thu, Dec 12, 13 at 10:36

Without getting too much into politics, I just want to say that its all getting too crazy for me! We have trouble finding people jobs, yet we keep sending our jobs overseas. I'm a label reader, and I can't believe how much I've seen this holiday season from China......even toothpicks, garlic powder......everything!

Things that are so produce-able or grow-able here just aren't anymore. I just recently discovered that the canned Dole pineapple I've been buying is from Thailand now. I always thought it was from Hawaii. I worry about the quality control in foreign countries.

I realize that some products have to come from other countries, because we might just not have the right soil or growing season.........but dang, everything???
I agree........we have to make our voices heard about our displeasure with this.........especially our food.

This just does not make any sense. I wondering how many of the politicans who voted for this crazy thing would eat chicken that is processed in China--none of them. I do not understand the logistics of slaughtering chickens here, shipping them to China, and then back here. Chicken was the only protein I was eating. After reading this, I have decided to become a complete vegetarian. I am definitely writing those politicans who are allowing this to see if they would eat or let their families eat anything from China. It makes me so angry that no one seems to care about our health these days, they just care about the dollar.

Arley"--------------"GE brings good things to light, but bad stuff to rivers in China""

So many civilized ways to kill people.

We have been poisoning many developing countries by sending them toxic waste.

Every year, 6.5 million people die from tobacco. America is the world's top cigarette seller. We promote tobacco like crazy to other countries.

I was try to spend more money to buy some tools made in America. Stihl and Milwaukee tools are the top US tool manufacturers. Then I was shocked to find out that now they are having tools made in China.

Don't blame the politicians. Blame the citizens who elected them. Our elected officials are lawyers, China's elected officials are engineers.

Blame the parents who send their kids to law schools. Even Mexico graduates more engineers then us.

Worry about toxic chicken? Some "Made in Italy" tomato sauces are made from tomatoes grown in China. Who knows what else.

dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Fri, Dec 13, 13 at 0:07

President Carter was an engineer! Not sure how well that went, depends on your perspective! I know it is more expensive to buy from producers where you can track the food's journey to your table, so I have to pick and choose, but I will also say that developing relationships to the producers and purveyors of my food has been a very pleasurable experience. Not everyone can be as lucky as me, but I am actually involved in the movement to bring these experiences to many more people, particularly in urban areas. That's been pleasurable too. There are alternatives!