The term “Chinese chickens” now has a completely new meaning. Why?
Well, because the U.S Department of Agriculture recently permitted four chicken processing plants in China to import poultry raised and slaughtered in the United States for further processing. These chickens will be shipped back to the United States and sold in all supermarket across the country. Well, the bad thing about these processed chickens it that they won’t need a country-of-origin label and no United States inspectors will be on site to inspect the meat before it is shipped back to the United States for human consumption.
This is really serious and it causes a great concern to all food-safety experts who are worried about the quality of chicken processed in county infamous for avian influenza and food-borne diseases. Tom Super, at the National Chicken Council, claims that this is not economically viable. He says it’s because these companies will buy frozen chicken in the United States, ship it to China, unload it, then take it to a processing factory, unpack it, cut it up, process or cook it, freeze it, repack it, transport it back to a shipping port and ship it back to the United States.
According to the latest statistics of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the American poultry processors get an average of 11$ per hour. And in china the reports indicate that its chicken workers can ear significantly lower, $1 to $2 an hour. Well, this makes the Tom’s economic feasibility assessment questionable.
The Seattle Times has reported that it’s already in place to ship United States seafood. They also mentioned that the locally caught Pacific salmon and Dungeness crab are already being processed in China and shipped back to the United States. For what? Probably cause of the substantial cost savings. Some fish processors like Seattle-based Trident Seafood – are shipping part of their catch of Alaskan salmon or Dungeness crab to China for processing and importing it back.
Did you know that salmon has 36 pin bones and all of them have to be removed by hands – it’s the surest and safest way. Well, this process costs about 1$ in the United States and in China it gets done for 20 cents.
But, the bad thing is that china has a notorious reputation as one of the world’s worst safety culprits. The United States FDA (Food and Drug Administration), earlier in this year, released a report on a Chinese chicken jerky producer, which manufactured dog treats to over 500 dogs’ deaths. FSN just wants to create awareness of the pending USDA agreement and stop
FSN just wants to create awareness of the pending USDA agreement and stop Chinese-processed chicken from over getting to United States supermarkets. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to share with your friends and family.