Would you eat chicken imported from China?

[Twigs]

I just saw this article

 

Don't Trust a Chicken Nugget That's Visited China

 

Any comments?

[Audrey]

Noooooo. I don't eat any food imported from China.  I am sure some of it is safe, but there have been too many instances of unsafe food that I just don't want to risk it, especially when there are so many local alternatives to be found.

 

[JumpyTheFrog]

After the melamine tainted food and then reading about plastic "rice" used to dilute down real rice, DH and I decided to not buy any food from China. Since some foods like bamboo shoots and water chestnuts don't see to come from anywhere else, we do without them.

[Ameena]

Nope I won't. I won't even buy pet food that comes from china, or toys.

[Arcadia]

California beef can be just as scary.  Besides chicken nuggets and burgers are hard to avoid when outside unless you (general) are vegetarian. 

"Federal inspectors have temporarily shut down a California meat company that provided beef for the popular In-N-Out Burger chain and the U.S. school lunch program, saying there was evidence of "egregious, inhumane handling and treatment of livestock."  (Aug 21, 2012, ABCnews, video on link shows cows being abused)

[Pawz4me]

I don't think our (American) food is the exactly the epitome of safety, but . . . no, I wouldn't knowingly eat anything grown or manufactured in China (and neither will I feed it to my pets).

[Whereneverever]

No. No no no. I like knowing the animal I'm eating is what I think I'm eating. I also like knowing my food lived a good life before coming to my table.

[Arcadia]

There was an article in Mercury News that said the flour for breads sold at supermarkets come from China.  I can't find that article but found the NYTimes article on the same issue

 

"What trade commission figures show is that ingredients are streaming in from more than 100 countries, including China, India, the Philippines and countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In some cases, consumer demand for more ethnic foods in the United States is pushing companies to import harder-to-find foods from exotic locales, but in other cases the phenomenon is simply a function of the way modern processed foods are assembled. The imported ingredients include caseins and caseinates (enzymes found in milk that are used as milk protein substitutes for pizza cheeses) and gums and resins that are used as binders to, for example, give chicken nuggets a certain consistency."(link)

 

Found the graphic link.  It is very interesting. 

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/06/15/business/20070616_FOOD_GRAPHIC.html

[In The Great White North]

During the Beijing Olympics, the USA Team imported ALL of the athletes food and wouldn't allow athletes to eat "on the town" til after they were done competing because the chicken tested positive for steroids.

 

Another thing I doubt will be on the label.

[gingersmom]

I was in China twenty years ago. There was some scary looking chicken back then. I didn't eat it then and wouldn't eat it now. 

[Spy Car]

No.

 

Bill

[In the Rain]

No!

[walkermamaof4]

We don't eat nuggets from anywhere. 

[Alessandra]

NO!

 

So how would I know if the chicken I buy comes from China. Will the Chinese imports only be highly processed, like pre-made chicken nuggets. Or does 'processing' include cut up chicken parts, like chicken breasts, etc. 

 

I am picturing boatloads of frozen, slaughtered chickens on their way to China -- not a pretty picture!

[Twigs]

I was in China twenty years ago. There was some scary looking chicken back then. I didn't eat it then and wouldn't eat it now. 

 

Here's a quote from the article. The chickens aren't Chinese chickens originally.

 

quote removed

 

[goldberry]

No.  I'm iffy enough about US chicken.

[In the Rain]

California beef can be just as scary.  Besides chicken nuggets and burgers are hard to avoid when outside unless you (general) are vegetarian. 

 

 

Really? We are not vegetarian, and my kids have never had to eat nuggets. They do eat burgers, but not generally from fast food places. When we have had to stop at McDonalds, my kids ate salad, fries, fruit or yogurt. No, it isn't a healthy or filling meal, but in my opinion it beats the alternative choices.

[nmoira]

No. And very little of what is produced in the US. We're very picky about chicken, mostly because the vast majority are treated abominably.

[Karen in CO]

Noooooo

 

I don't eat chicken from anywhere.  The only chicken nuggets my kids eat are ones I make gluten-free with organic chicken.  I like to know what's in our food and where it came from.

[Cindy in FL.]

No, I'm too chicken! :)

[TravelingChris]

Not if I can help it.

[Pretty in Pink]

Blech. No way. I try not to buy food from China, and my kids don't eat fast food nuggets even when we are on the road.

[mumto2]

No!!!

[Freckles]

I wouldn't now that I live in America, but I did when we lived in China. We had to eat while we were there. We survived. I'm not too convinced our food here in the states is much safer.

[Freckles]

I bought chicken from the butcher at the local grocery store (not street market.) Let me tell you, it takes two chickens to compare to our fattened plumped up birds here in the U.S.. Chickens are scrawny over there, at least where we lived.

The butchers would laugh and laugh at me while I played charades trying to get them to cut the heads and feet off of the birds before wrapping them up.