Food From China

Melamine laced pet food, lead paint on toys, melamine laced Cadbury Chocolate, melamine laced baby food, dried apples preserved with a cancer-causing chemical, frozen catfish laden with banned antibiotics, scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria, mushrooms laced with illegal pesticides and these are only what we know about.
The Washington Post has a good article about the commercial side of the subject. Follow the link to read their article on tainted Chinese products.
Washington Post Article
I recommend your reading of their article for the commercial side of why we are permitting these products into this country.
It is not that I think the Chinese are trying to poison us; it is more of a cultural difference between us than any nefarious plot to poison our pets and us. We have all heard the stories of the food that the Chinese eat that is not considered table-fare here. It is true that the Chinese eat from a different menu than we do. Their historical experience may have a lot to do with their diet.

The Chinese join more than half the world in eating dogs and cats. Their menu also includes horse, scorpions, snakes, seahorses, silkworms, Cicadas, lizards, Starfish, dung beetles, and sea urchins.


A Mom and Pop Chicken Operation in China
China has a very large population and at times has struggled to put food on the table. Hungry people ate what was available, and over time, cultivated a taste for those items. There is also a market for the chickens that die on the chicken farms and streets. (See the pictures above) Some of these products are the result of a fledgling capitalist system. Enterprising Chinese see the marketing of items on the fringe of acceptability as their ticket out of poverty.

Melamine is used as a protein extender for various food products in China and is considered harmless by them. Please go to the website I have listed below to get the flavor of the problems that individuals are having just trying to determine the origin of the food we buy.
http://chocolateword.net/?p=394

Personally, I do my best to not buy food products from China. Until they get some control over their food production and the safety of their products, I will pass. If you read the Washington Post article at provided link, you will have learned why we permit, and are unable to control much of the flow of food products from China. Political forces are at work which makes me mad as hell at our leaders in Washington.

If you do more investigations on the subject, you will find that Canada repackages a lot of Chinese food and markets it here in the United States as being from Canada. It is really a fine kettle of fish that we have gotten ourselves into.

Cheers,

-Robert-