”Made in China” Ping.
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Posted on 09/02/2007 8:08:16 AM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
When the 65 steel drums crossed from the Canadian border in late April, the accompanying documents said they contained honey from Canada, according to U.S. government officials. Since most food products from Canada are considered safe, the honey normally would have sailed through U.S. customs.
But U.S. inspectors noticed something odd.
The green steel drums were marked as containing apple concentrate from China, one official said. When Food and Drug Administration investigators examined the honey inside, they found chips of green paint -- most likely from the drums themselves -- floating at the bottom of some drums. And laboratory tests of the honey revealed the presence of ciprofloxacin, an antibiotic banned in the production of food in the U.S. but often used in the making of honey in China.
The probe of the honey, still open after more than four months, demonstrates the difficulties U.S. port inspectors face when it comes to policing imports, even on products that have drawn years of extra scrutiny. It's unclear who the importer is in the case.
The Chinese steel drums and the antibiotic led U.S. officials to believe that the honey shipment was actually from China, not Canada, said the official, who declined to be named. If so, it would not be the first time that the FDA has raised doubts over Chinese honey imports.
Accusations that China was dumping low-priced honey on the U.S. market prompted the federal government to impose trade quotas in December 2001, and the FDA a year ago issued an import alert on Chinese honey due to concerns over the presence of banned antibiotics.
"It's just another sign to us that we have this huge number of imports and no way to get a handle on it," said an FDA chemist......
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Did you get a replacement Russell yet ?
If they keep running these stories, Americans will impose an effective boycott by not buying chinese goods. That will let the FDA off the hook.
Do they know the identity of the exporter? Aren't they required to list the address of where it was being sent?
anything worth money has a buyer and a seller and lots of paperwork.
for shame!
If it is at the bottom it isn't floating. I guess journalism students' GPAs float at the bottom of the university.
This is the direct result of American companies outsourcing their production offshore in order to save and pocket millions of dollars at consumers expense.
Even brand name recognition is not a guarantee that a product is safe anymore because it is probably made elsewhere.
Support your local farmers market!!!
FDA is not set up to deal with the import increase that our feds are putting on them.
Result: We will be poisoned. Maybe not killed right away, but poisoned all the same.
For the life of me I cannot understand why we have so many laws and regulations for our farmers. What chemicals and fertilizers can and cannot be used. Then we import produce from other nations whose standards are different.
God only knows what was used on them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have seasonal produce year round, but I think we are shooting ourselves in the foot.
Like everything else, you have to be careful buying anything.
I’m fortunate to have a neighbor down the road who runs a small honey operation, so I know it’s as safe as honey can be.
Chinese honey, and other contaminated crap isn’t just sent over, it’s purchased by some less than honest crook HERE, looking to make a fast buck at the expense of their fellow American’s health. These are the people the FDA has to go after. Obviously there is good money to be made, otherwise they wouldn’t go through such lengths to smuggle these goods into the country.
The destination for these goods according to another report, isn’t only the grocery store shelves, it’s bought up by res truant owners looking to save a few bucks at your expense off their supply costs.
More and more people are. Local farmers markets have experienced quite a bit of growth in the past few years, as more and more people are looking a little closer at what they are eating. Nothing tastes better than fresh produce that you prepare or "process" yourself.
Importers can also use private laboratories to clear seafood into the U.S. if food is detained under an import alert. While that practice puts the cost of the lab work on the importer, it also invites corruption if a shady importer can persuade a private lab to produce a desired result. "The FDA has been trying to crack down," said Hiep Tong, customer service manager for Anresco Laboratories in San Francisco. "What they used to not know about is some people getting things tested with different laboratories until they have an acceptable result. Now they [the FDA] make the importer verify that this is the first and only time they tested the product, and if not, they must state so."
To paraphrase David Letterman. ‘Our Labor Day is coming up...it should be celebrated in China.’
“Nothing tastes better than fresh produce that you prepare or “process” yourself.”
Except what you grow, harvest, prepare and process yourself.
Problem is you buy a product that is full of ingredients...honey for instance, and you have no idea what the nation of origin is for the honey. The product may be produced in the US, the ingredients...it’s anybody’s guess.
But in this case, the product would have been fraudulently labelled "Made in Canada".
There's no way to boycott Red China if you cannot identify their goods. In this case, they were clumsy enough to get caught. They won't be the next time.
I think that we should simply cease all normal trade with Red China. It won't help with these type of third country tricks, but it would be significant enough to at least put a crimp in Red China's vast export profits since I believe that we are still the largest source of profits for them, although we are only now a small fraction of their total trade.
“Problem is you buy a product that is full of ingredients...honey for instance, and you have no idea what the nation of origin is for the honey. The product may be produced in the US, the ingredients...it’s anybody’s guess.”
Too true, and there is some legislation floating around now that would require more labeling of imported food products. Of course, industry and foreign nations oppose it. Maybe all this recent negative publicity will contribute to better labeling laws.
Labeling is something else US citizens need to become loud about because I think corporations have had their way too often in the past, and will continue to do so absent citizen input such as during the shamnesty legislation effort.
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