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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alan Smithee who wrote (465018)	1/13/2012 8:00:39 PM
From: FJB	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793719

We import chicken from China for human consumption too. google.com June 8th, 2011 A Decade of Dangerous Food Imports from China China has become an agricultural powerhouse and leading food exporter. Though supermarket labels may not always indicate it, a growing portion of the American diet is now made in China. In 2009, 70 percent of the apple juice, 43 percent of the processed mushrooms, 22 percent of the frozen spinach and 78 percent of the tilapia Americans ate came from China. The FDA inspects less than 2 percent of imported food and barely visits Chinese food manufacturers. The FDA conducted only 13 food inspections in China between June 2009 and June 2010. Read the full report Unfortunately, it’s not just China’s food that’s reaching American shores — it’s also China’s food safety problems. The shortcomings in China’s food safety system were highlighted when ingredients tainted with the chemical melamine entered the global food supply — including products from well-known brands like Mars, Heinz and Cadbury. Melamine-tainted milk products sickened hundreds of thousands of infants in China, and melamine contamination is believed to be responsible for thousands of pet deaths in the United States. Melamine adulteration garnered the most headlines, but systemic food safety failures in China have allowed unsafe foods onto global grocery store shelves. The Wild West business environment in China encourages food manufacturers to cut costs and corners. Even Chinese officials have publicly acknowledged their inability to regulate the country’s sprawling food production sector. U.S. food safety inspectors have been overwhelmed by the surging food imports from China since the country joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. These international business deals allow trade to trump food safety and encourage U.S. agribusinesses and food manufacturers to source food ingredients in China where environmental, food safety and labor laws are weaker and regulatory oversight is lax. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has done little to address the growing tide of food imports from China, despite a well-documented pattern of chemical adulteration and unsafe drug residues. The FDA inspects less than 2 percent of imported food and barely visits Chinese food manufacturers. The FDA conducted only 13 food inspections in China between June 2009 and June 2010. There is no indication that China’s food safety situation is improving. Melamine continues to appear in food inside China despite a spate of new food safety legislation. Nonetheless, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is considering allowing U.S. food retailers to import chicken from China. It is time for a common-sense approach to inspecting imported food and preventing the globalization of the food supply from sickening our citizens. A new direction would include: Revisiting the current trade agenda to make public health, environmental standards and consumer safety the highest priorities. Removing agriculture from the WTO. The WTO has been a failure for U.S. farmers and has encouraged companies to offshore food manufacturing to places like China with low wages and weak regulatory standards, putting consumers around the world at risk. Restarting the assessment of China’s poultry inspection system before considering allowing Chinese poultry products to be exported to the United States. Significantly increasing FDA and USDA funding to increase inspections of the growing volume of food imports from China and other countries. The FDA also needs the resources to conduct inspections in food facilities in China. Closing the loopholes in the current country-of-origin labeling rules on meats, seafood, fruits and vegetables, andexpanding the labeling requirements to cover processed food. foodandwaterwatch.org