U.S. inspectors have stopped more food shipments from India and Mexico in the past year than they have from China..produce from the Dominican Republic, candy from Denmark more often.
Produce from the Dominican Republic was stopped 828 times from July 2006 to June of this year, usually for containing traces of illegal pesticides. Candy from Denmark was impounded 543 times. Chinese seafood was stopped at the border 391 times during the past year.
“This is not a single-country issue,” said Carl R. Nielsen, who resigned from the FDA in 2005 after 28 years. His last job was director of the agency’s Office of Regulatory Affairs Division of Import Operations and Policy. “What we are experiencing is massive globalization,” he said.
The FDA database does not necessarily capture a full and accurate picture of product quality from other countries. Only one year of data is available on the agency’s Web site. The FDA inspects only about 1 percent of the imports that fall under its jurisdiction. So the agency may miss many of the products that are contaminated or defective.
The FDA database also fails to disclose the quantity of products that are refused, so it is impossible to know whether just a box of cucumbers was refused or a shipload.
In cases of recurrent problems, the FDA could issue an import alert, which leads to additional scrutiny at the border. Last month, the FDA issued not only the import alert for the Chinese fish but also alerts for Mexican cantaloupes and basmati rice from India.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/food/orl-chinafood2207jul22,0,676236.story
Fortunately I live in the part of the country where I can buy all local produce, fresh fish, meat, dairy, garden grown vegetables; so rarely see the inside of a grocery store but for incidentals (paper etc)..which I call the biggest “scam artists” of all—chain supermarkets!
TIP:
Also, am a customer (7 months now) of http://www.homebistro.com. It fits my lifestyle with the botton line financially far less than a scurry through a supermarket where one finds below average food products in deceptive photo shoots causing “drool factor” aka impulse buying. Saves time and I am never disappointed!! Better than most restaurant food (I find myself comparing), time saving, saves on gas to and from and can never truthfully exclaim, “there’s nothing in the house to eat”. So taking from that commercial referencing “my people”..I just say “my personal chef”, (executive etc.) Tastes as good as it looks in under 15 minutes, no clean up.
They say “Locally grown is the new organic” I buy only chicken from my state and fresh fish from Alaska and hit the farmers market now not becasue I am a ecofreak, but I am trying to not die from imported foods from China, Thailand, and central and south americas. I was in a great area this weekend called Kelowna, British Columbia and it was wonderful to pick your own cherries, apricots, blueberries, raspberries, get eggs straight from the chickens. We had a grand time and it all was better than grocery stores. Cherries were $1.50 a lb. and raspberries even cheaper self picked. I only wish I could have brought them back across the border. The border guard looked in our tunk checking out our contents, since all we said we bought was one bottle of wine, and that was all he found, “Yep, one bottle of wine” he said.
I bookmarked the site you mentioned as it might come in handy for me to use them. How much prep do you have to do, if any? The food looks pretty good and there seems to be a pretty decent variety in their different packages. Which one do you find yourself going after most often?
Living alone, trying to regain some weight I lost when I had surgery a year ago and there are times when I want a decent meal but don’t want to have to go to all of the hassle of having the ingredients on hand, prepping and then wasting leftovers. This just might be something I could take advantage of until I get healthier.