That's just crazy! They probably do something stupid like grow the vegs here send them to China to process and bag them there and send them back~~~or maybe the bags are from China;(

Eww...... glad you mentioned this, thanks. I can see I've been too trusting with my frozen vegetables. A couple of years ago I purged my freezer of fish from China; now I'll have to see what my vegetables say. How irritating.....

Almost every pre-packaged food, nowadays, is from China. Good for you, for reading labels!

HMM my store brand frozen peas are fro the USA~~some asian mix I got at Winco is from China/USA ;(~~some French Green beans I got from Trader Joes are from France?? I just thought they called them that to be fancy~~they are my favorite brand of green beans.

Why is it a problem to eat food from China? We have had enough recalls, health incidents, sicknesses, and deaths from our U.S. supply chain over the last several years that eating food produced exclusively in our country does not provide me with a lot of reassurance...

I'll have to start checking my veggies too. I'm glad this was brought up; thank you! More reason to buy fresh and locally.

Thanks for the replies.
We stopped buying Simply Orange (I think was the name) orange juice a while back because the oranges came from china. Their regulations for pesticides are different than ours here in the US. There was a higher than acceptable level of pesticide in the orange juice.I guess it came from the rind.
I don't trust food products that come from china.Plus, I don't see the need. The only thing different about the packages that were a product of china was the water chestnuts.

AAARRRGH! Simply Orange is (was!) my favorite orange juice.

I don't buy anything from China if I can help it. Certainly not food, and especially not seafood.

I have some chinese chow mein noodles...name of China Boy of all things and in big letters on the package, it says "Made in USA"...haha..I thought that rather ironic...

I couldn't find anything in my brief search which stated Simply Orange oranges are imported from China. I'd be interested to see that link if you could please provide it.

For years Highliner frozen fish was made in Montreal. I looked at a package recently and it's now made in China. Packaged in Canada.

Europe's Best is from China too.

I try to stay away from food from China but it's harder and harder. I don't buy frozen fish, or Europe's Best (it's expensive). I buy store brand frozen peas and corn.

Kudzu, this article from a German publication explains some of the concerns about importing foods from China. It says in part:

In recent years, China has become a major food supplier to Europe. But the low-cost goods are grown in an environment rife with pesticides and antibiotics, disproportionately cited for contamination and subject to an inspection regime full of holes. A recent norovirus outbreak in Germany has only heightened worries."

Several years ago, the news broke that fish from China came from contaminated waters.

I live in Toronto. The grocery store I frequent sells organic frozen corn - my husband likes(d) it. It was hard to get as it was very popular and sold fast. Definitely it was originally a product of either Canada or the USA. All of a sudden there was always a lot of stock. Now it is a Product of China. Other shoppers are taking this to mean the corn is from China since generally here, if the packaging is bigger than the product (even though the food part is from China) the box will say Product of Canada. Why corn has to come from China to be sold in Canada is beyond me. Jasdip, re Europe's Best - I always look on the package as well to see where the vegetables/fruit are from. Some packages say Product of Belgium - but of course now I am suspicious that the vegetables are from China, but packaged in Belgium. Same with Highliner - I knew the company had been purchased by a Chinese company and that the fish was now a product of China. I once bought a different brand of frozen fish and as soon as I tasted it I decided it was pretty awful so looked at the packaging - product of China - yet it was a brand that was previously from a "trusted" country, so I tossed it. Often the fish department will have a sign indicating that the fish is from such and such an ocean - I now ask exactly where it is from. On one occasion a man who had just purchased a very large order asked the clerk not to ring him up until he answered my question. It is beyond me why apple juice sold in Canada and the U.S. consists of 49% juice from apples grown in China. Not happening - but it is very hard. I do agree that we have our own problems with food recalls etc., but China is a whole different ball game.

Several years ago, I noticed that Green Giant brand were from Mexico, which I don't like due to the way they raise their veggies. They do not check the water, that may have stuff from animals and pestasides. We saw alot of that when we use to go camping down there many years ago.

sleeperblues- it was an article in a magazine(consumer reports I believe) and information on the dr. oz show about higher levels of arsenic in fruit juices that prompted me to look on the lable of the "simply orange juice" that was in our refrigerator. It said product of China on the label. I think it was last summer that we switched.

Whoever said we have enough problems here in the US is right though..However I will not knowingly eat/drink something that is questionable to me. I was just surprised to find that information on my package yesterday.That's why I decided to post it here.

Thanks Missy. I'll watch out for that now!

I'm in Canada and my Green Giant vegies (well the peas and the corn anyway) are both labeled as being grown and packaged in Canada and the package itself is printed in the USA. Thanks for doing the wording in both English and French by the way. The plastic bag itself might be made in China but it doesn't say.

I have a bottle of Simply Orange orange juice in my refrigerator, dragged it out and my reading glasses and scrutinized the whole label and bottle and found nothing about China. I do see that it says USA/Brazil in the black lettering where it has the "use by date". I was telling my husband that the oranges were from China, as I was taking it out of the fridge and he said, "probably Brazil. MacDonald's orange juice is from oranges from Brazil."

Hmmmm. Whattaya know. He was right. I guess I will keep drinking it.

I do try to buy most of our produce at a store on a local farm, who grow most of their own vegetables, in season, but also list the state that the produce is from, if they bring it in.

Marilyn- How do we know that Brazil is any safer than China (or the U.S., for that matter)?

I personally also want to help support our farmers here in the USA. My father was a farmer as was his father, etc. He had to quit farming because he could no longer support the family on his income. He was basically forced to sell the family farm and equipment which had been in our family for generations to survive. And that was a very sad day for all of us. The farmers here are all going belly up and selling family farms because everything is coming from China or other foreign markets. Our farmers are held to very strict guidelines, not so much for those others.

I have a great friend who is a surgeon that goes to countries including China to teach new techniques. He was disgusted by the filth and lack of clean water for scrubbing up at the hospitals. He said the rate of infection for hepatitis was sky high, almost epidemic levels. So factor in the fact that more than likely the workers handling those food products are infected and it is often spread by food handlers.

Being pro active and alert as to what we eat is a good thing.

I checked out a bottle of Simply Orange at the grocery store today after reading this thread.

It just said on it that it was bottled for Minute Maid Canada, but didn't say where the source was. I looked everywhere, and it said nothing.

I started noticing 'Product of Canada' on some Milton's Multgrain Crackers we really liked (bought at Costco). Then Costco stopped selling them. Now I wonder if they were only *packaged* in Canada, or Costco couldn't get them as cheaply as before...or what?

Then I saw "Product of Mexico" along with "Product of USA" on bags of frozen mixed veggies (bought at a couple of different chain groceries).

My *guess* is that it is a relatively new law to provide the origin of all food products. Maybe the (whatever) in the bags of mixed veggies ALWAYS came from another country!

Speaking of correct labeling, DH just had a can of Progresso soup that claimed to be "Green Split Pea flavored with Bacon". Nope. It was big old peas floating around in something green, but not split pea soup! It was *awful*.

Check your imported olive oil too. It may be bottled in Italy, but many bands say (in fine print) that the olives are from any of a half-dozen other countries.

I too noticed that some frozen veggies were from China and will not buy them. I try my very best not to buy anything from China or any other country, but, it's not easy. People wonder why we don't have any more jobs. Everything is made somewhere else.

I switched buying my orange juice from Florida Natural. I also want to support our American orange producers.

I was in Costco the other day and was going to buy some kind of frozen veggies, I think some type of green beans or broccoli and when I looked at the label it came from Belgium. Really, nothing against Belgium, but, do we need to ship simple vegetables half way around the world to feed out families. They can't find an American or Canadian supplier, really?

I also was going to make Pignoli cookies and have always brought large bags of walnuts, pecans and almonds from Costco. I saw the Pignoli nuts and said great and, shame on me, assumed that they were USA as all the other nuts have been. Well, I was just assembling everything to make the cookies and in fine print I found Made in China. Nope, not for my family, I put everything away made some other type of cookie and the next day returned it to Costco.

Well, good luck everyone trying to feed your family American products.

Like nizza, we LOVE Florida's Natural OJ. It says it is made only from fresh Florida oranges, never concentrate. It sure *tastes* better than the others.

I'm not getting clear information about food origin labels in the US by Googling. I appears to date back to a 2002 law that wasn't implemented until 2008 -- expanded at some point to include meat products. *Something* is due to change at the end of May 2013, but exactly what is confusing to me. Anyway, the World Trade Organization has been fighting the labeling, but the US says the WTO can't overrule US statutes.

Funny thing is, the law seems NOT to apply to 'processed foods', which I'd think would apply to the frozen veggies that started this thread! Maybe 'frozen' isn't 'processed'. Well, I guess it isn't, not the same as canned or cooked, huh?

The following link contains some useful info about "processed food." Frozen foods are one type:

Here is a link that might be useful: Processed Food

Thanks, kudzu. So...frozen IS processed, and we know that we're seeing origins on frozen, but...I can't find where the US law requires this. Maybe that is the regulation that will be required by May; the companies are getting in compliance now.

DH brought home a pint of strawberries the other day. I didn't look at the box until I started to prepare them for our breakfast cereal. Guess what? Although they were packed in Santa Ana, California, they're "Product of Mexico". I'm betting they always were, but now the company must say so.

Am I the only person on the planet that doesn't look to see where my vegetables come from? LOL

Dollar Tree closest to me has frozen foods.

Their frozen peaches are from China and are NOT good.

glenda-
Thanks for the input. I've gotten some good deals at Dollar Stores, but I'm not shocked that frozen Chinese peaches is not one of them.

I never thought to read a frozen vegetable bag. I was told frozen vegetables are as good nutritionally as fresh. But I'll be darned if I'll help support trade with China! I'll be reading every food label from now on. By the way, Florida's Natural orange juice is all grown in Fla. It's the only brand I buy since Tropicana went international.

At least we've boosted Florida's Natural OJ here! I see on the container that the orange growers involved are part of a cooperative.

Angelaid -- I think we've just started noticing the origins *because* it's something new on the frozen veggie bag. Because my brain is so old, I often consult the back of the bag to reassure myself about how long to nuke whatever vegetable is in there! Then, voila! There is the origin stamp.

Given increasing and probably irreversible globalization, in ten years it may be hard to have a varied diet if one limits oneself to "grown/processed/packaged in the USA." Look at Walmart: they'd go out of business next week if consumers refused to buy stuff from them of foreign origin.

A lot of raw veggies and fruits in my grocery stores, local produce stands, and even "farmers markets" do not indicate country of origin. When they get unboxed and put out for sale, the employees may not even know for sure where some of them originally came from.

Kudzu, I agree it's going to get harder to find grown in USA.

I only buy fruits that have stickers on them that actually say USA, I don't trust the boxes that they have them sitting in in the supermarket because I've had that happen the box said USA, but, the fruit had stickers on them from another country.

This O J ain't from Florida ... (hasn't even been there, in fact) ...

... and he does tend to be "au naturel" on occasion ...

... but only within the privacy of his own home.

He wasn't born or raised in far distant lands ... but he has spent some time in a couple of them.

o j

Hee-Hee, OJ! Maybe you could agree to endorse the product!