I stopped shopping at Trader Joes for precisely this reason.
I bought Chinese “organic” food there and it made me sick. And really pissed off.
Listen carefully to these deceitful weasel words from Trader Joes: “California-based grocery store chain Trader Joe’s stopped offering some single-ingredient Chinese-grown food products like frozen organic spinach and garlic. While Trader Joe’s says it believes food from China is safe, it decided to take that unusual step due to concern from customers.”
Translation to English: “We still sell Chinese made poisoned, toxic polluted food.”
Is the food from China TJ still sells appropriately labeled?
You're right. When I read the above statement between the lines, I'm getting that a single-ingredient food product would be clearly labeled from China. Obviously, Trader Joe's customers were complaining about, and avoiding (translate: not buying) the clearly marked Chinese food products.
I don't know the laws on food labeling, but I am assuming by that statement that "mixed-ingredient" foods might have food labeling that is a little more muddled and not so easy to spot. This is what the consumer has to be concerned about - these companies (who worship at the feet of the god of profit) will do anything for more profits & I believe our government will wink-wink at them & help them to do that by having confusing laws as to how things must be labeled.
The same as they are doing with importing illegals in here - our government is in the pocket of big business. That's what it's all about & the consumer has got to be educated about that fact. Whether we're talking about pharmaceuticals, food - or any product - we have got to be aware of how these things are produced. I don't think we can rely on the labeling anymore.
The key words of course are "single-ingredient," since those veggies have to be labeled with country of origin, while mixed ingredient foods don't. Translation: we're not selling foods that are labeled "grown in China," but we're still selling food that is grown in China.