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To: Sender
I am going to be more selective and avoid any food products from China from now on.

I've been trying to do that with all products, but with every passing year it's been harder. Many categories of goods are very much dominated by Chinese manufacture now. Shopping for kids is a case in point - shoes, toys, and even musical instruments - all increasingly dominated by China. You'd be amazed at the quantity of stringed instruments flowing in from China, and more recently, pianos. I've been told that even Yamaha is planning to move production from Japan to China in the next few years.

Food is tricky, because so much of what comes from China isn't marked as such. If it's an ingredient in the manufacture of a food product, the individual ingredient won't be labelled as to country of origin. Fresh produce can usually be identified, but you may need to ask the produce department personnel to dig it up. They are not always well informed, and will assume that if something is labelled as "packed in California" that the food is grown in Cali, which is not true. If it's grown in the US, it will normally say so. Packaged in the US isn't good enough. A single frozen veggie in a bag may be identifiable as to country of origin, but a bag of mixed veggies won't be. China ships A LOT of snap peas and garlic, just for starters.

I'm doing what I can to grow a few veggies on our shady, deer-patrolled property. I'll also buy from our local farmers to the extent possible.

Since our Feds have abdicated food safety to a large measure, I've asked my state representative (who is new on the job and eager) to look into the issue on a state level. We have a lot of farms in Pennsylvania, and I would like to see our state legislature take action to help support them. I'd much rather buy Pennsylvania-grown food than imports, but without some kind of labelling, I can't always identify it. I'm hoping that something can be done on a state level to help us support our local agricultural industry.

I can't sit by and do nothing. I'll pressure my local store managers and continue to avoid Chinese goods as much as I can.

34 posted on 05/27/2007 10:32:48 AM PDT by Think free or die
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To: Think free or die

It is very hard to avoid Chinese products, but I never expected to be eating Chinese food...other than at a restaurant, that is ;)


49 posted on 05/27/2007 12:57:16 PM PDT by Sender ("America is at that awkward stage..." - Claire Wolfe)
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