So they'll continue to sell Chinese food as long as they can hide it in something else.
Form over substance.
Good catch.
I don't think there's much they can do about it, at least not easily. The problem is that almost all prepared foods are likely to have at least some Chinese ingredients, and there's no way of telling. It might be added in some third country, or by a supplier, but it won't be on the label.
Until the government gets serious about this, it's a real problem.
>>>>”All single ingredient food items sourced from mainland China
What the heck is a “single ingredient food item”? Poisoned dog food has more than one ingredient. So do candies made with date rape drugs. I suppose the fish grown in black mucky ponds loaded with thousands (millions?) of human contraceptive pills might be “single ingredient”.
Recently I bought a bag of spicey peanuts “sourced” from Singapore (not from Trader Joe’s though). I checked very carefully. Wasn’t until I got home that I found they teeny weeny type “Product Of China”. To the trashcan they went.
TJ’s needs to be a bit less obtuse with this policy. Something like “We don’t sell foods with ingredients from China.” Period.
Single source is where you can start, and it is where you have the best control as a retailer. I think once they have that down, they will move on to products with short ingredient lists.
I don’t think Trader Joe’s is engaging in symbolism here. I have a small health food store and have been working on this problem too. You need a dedicated staff to pursue it, and to keep the wrong products out of the store. It is not easy.