Re: [Biofuel] Chinese flood U.S. markets with contaminated food products
absolutely. Their money means more than your health. Jason Mier [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: methinks perhaps the terror attack on our (ameirkas) food supply might not be by terrorists at all, but the greedy corporate bastards that control the food supply and allow this garbage to get off the ships? _ Like puzzles? Play free games earn great prizes. Play Clink now. http://club.live.com/clink.aspx?icid=clink_hotmailtextlink2 ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ - Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers, not web links. ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Chinese flood U.S. markets with contaminated food products
methinks perhaps the terror attack on our (ameirkas) food supply might not be by terrorists at all, but the greedy corporate bastards that control the food supply and allow this garbage to get off the ships? _ Like puzzles? Play free games earn great prizes. Play Clink now. http://club.live.com/clink.aspx?icid=clink_hotmailtextlink2 ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] Chinese flood U.S. markets with contaminated food products
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MSNBC: Chinese flood U.S. markets with contaminated food products; most of
it gets throughÂ…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18729540/
What few contaminated products FDA discovers are often shipped again
By Rick Weiss
Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical.
Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics.
Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria.
Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides.
These were among the 107 food imports from China that the Food and Drug
Administration detained at U.S. ports just last month, agency documents reveal,
along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted Chinese dietary supplements,
toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfeit Chinese medicines.
For years, U.S. inspection records show, China has flooded the United States
with foods unfit for human consumption. And for years, FDA inspectors have
simply returned to Chinese importers the small portion of those products they
caught -- many of which turned up at U.S. borders again, making a second or
third attempt at entry.
Now the confluence of two events -- the highly publicized contamination of
U.S. chicken, pork and fish with tainted Chinese pet food ingredients and this
week's resumption of high-level economic and trade talks with China -- has
activists and members of Congress demanding that the United States tell China
it is fed up.
Integral part of food chain
Dead pets and melamine-tainted food notwithstanding, change will prove
difficult, policy experts say, in large part because U.S. companies have become
so dependent on the Chinese economy that tighter rules on imports stand to harm
the U.S. economy, too.
So many U.S. companies are directly or indirectly involved in China now, the
commercial interest of the United States these days has become to allow imports
to come in as quickly and smoothly as possible, said Robert B. Cassidy, a
former assistant U.S. trade representative for China and now director of
international trade and services for Kelley Drye Collier Shannon, a Washington
law firm.
As a result, the United States finds itself kowtowing to China, Cassidy
said, even as that country keeps sending American consumers adulterated and
mislabeled foods.
It's not just about cheap imports, added Carol Tucker Foreman, a former
assistant secretary of agriculture now at the Consumer Federation of America.
Our farmers and food processors have drooled for years to be able to sell
their food to that massive market, Foreman said. The Chinese counterfeit.
They have a serious piracy problem. But we put up with it because we want to
sell to them.
Risks of unregulated trade being re-evaluated
U.S. agricultural exports to China have grown to more than $5 billion a
year-- a fraction of last year's $232 billion U.S. trade deficit with China but
a number that has enormous growth potential, given the Chinese economy's 10
percent growth rate and its billion-plus consumers.
Trading with the largely unregulated Chinese marketplace has its risks, of
course, as evidenced by the many lawsuits that U.S. pet food companies now face
from angry consumers who say their pets were poisoned by tainted Chinese
ingredients. Until recently, however, many companies and even the federal
government reckoned that, on average, those risks were worth taking. And for
some products they have had little choice, as China has driven competitors out
of business with its rock-bottom prices.
But after the pet food scandal, some are recalculating.
This isn't the first time we've had an incident from a Chinese supplier,
said Pat Verduin, a senior vice president at the Grocery Manufacturers
Association, a trade group in Washington. Food safety is integral to brands
and to companies. This is not an issue the industry is taking lightly.
China's less-than-stellar behavior as a food exporter is revealed in
stomach-turning detail in FDA refusal reports filed by U.S. inspectors:
Juices and fruits rejected as filthy. Prunes tinted with chemical dyes not
approved for human consumption. Frozen breaded shrimp preserved with
nitrofuran, an antibacterial that can cause cancer. Swordfish rejected as
poisonous.
In the first four months of 2007, FDA inspectors -- who are able to check out
less than 1 percent of regulated imports -- refused 298 food shipments from
China. By contrast, 56 shipments from Canada were rejected, even though Canada
exports about $10 billion in FDA-regulated food and agricultural products to
the United States -- compared to about $2 billion from China.
Although China is subject to more inspections because of its poor record,
those figures mean that the rejection rate for foods imported from China, on a
dollar-for-dollar basis, is more than 25 times that for Canada.
Miao
Re: [Biofuel] Chinese flood U.S. markets with contaminated food products
Actually the US market has proven itself very competent at flooding itself with contaminated food products of purely domestic origin with no outside help whatsoever, and doing the same to other people's markets too. It's quite interesting how the poisoned petfood scare has served to divert attention to imported perils - suspiciously like blaming gas price woes on the evils of dependence on foreign oil? The idea seems to be that as long as you can control the imports all will be well. No it won't! Best Keith MSNBC: Chinese flood U.S. markets with contaminated food products; most of it gets throughÂ… http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18729540/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18729540/ What few contaminated products FDA discovers are often shipped again By Rick Weiss Dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical. Frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics. Scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria. Mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides. These were among the 107 food imports from China that the Food and Drug Administration detained at U.S. ports just last month, agency documents reveal, along with more than 1,000 shipments of tainted Chinese dietary supplements, toxic Chinese cosmetics and counterfeit Chinese medicines. For years, U.S. inspection records show, China has flooded the United States with foods unfit for human consumption. And for years, FDA inspectors have simply returned to Chinese importers the small portion of those products they caught -- many of which turned up at U.S. borders again, making a second or third attempt at entry. Now the confluence of two events -- the highly publicized contamination of U.S. chicken, pork and fish with tainted Chinese pet food ingredients and this week's resumption of high-level economic and trade talks with China -- has activists and members of Congress demanding that the United States tell China it is fed up. Integral part of food chain Dead pets and melamine-tainted food notwithstanding, change will prove difficult, policy experts say, in large part because U.S. companies have become so dependent on the Chinese economy that tighter rules on imports stand to harm the U.S. economy, too. So many U.S. companies are directly or indirectly involved in China now, the commercial interest of the United States these days has become to allow imports to come in as quickly and smoothly as possible, said Robert B. Cassidy, a former assistant U.S. trade representative for China and now director of international trade and services for Kelley Drye Collier Shannon, a Washington law firm. As a result, the United States finds itself kowtowing to China, Cassidy said, even as that country keeps sending American consumers adulterated and mislabeled foods. It's not just about cheap imports, added Carol Tucker Foreman, a former assistant secretary of agriculture now at the Consumer Federation of America. Our farmers and food processors have drooled for years to be able to sell their food to that massive market, Foreman said. The Chinese counterfeit. They have a serious piracy problem. But we put up with it because we want to sell to them. Risks of unregulated trade being re-evaluated U.S. agricultural exports to China have grown to more than $5 billion a year-- a fraction of last year's $232 billion U.S. trade deficit with China but a number that has enormous growth potential, given the Chinese economy's 10 percent growth rate and its billion-plus consumers. Trading with the largely unregulated Chinese marketplace has its risks, of course, as evidenced by the many lawsuits that U.S. pet food companies now face from angry consumers who say their pets were poisoned by tainted Chinese ingredients. Until recently, however, many companies and even the federal government reckoned that, on average, those risks were worth taking. And for some products they have had little choice, as China has driven competitors out of business with its rock-bottom prices. But after the pet food scandal, some are recalculating. This isn't the first time we've had an incident from a Chinese supplier, said Pat Verduin, a senior vice president at the Grocery Manufacturers Association, a trade group in Washington. Food safety is integral to brands and to companies. This is not an issue the industry is taking lightly. China's less-than-stellar behavior as a food exporter is revealed in stomach-turning detail in FDA refusal reports filed by U.S. inspectors: Juices and fruits rejected as filthy. Prunes tinted with chemical dyes not approved for human consumption. Frozen breaded shrimp preserved with nitrofuran, an antibacterial that can cause cancer. Swordfish rejected as poisonous. In the first four months of 2007, FDA inspectors -- who are able to check out less than 1 percent of regulated imports -- refused 298 food shipments from China. By contrast, 56 shipments from Canada were rejected, even though Canada
