Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Thursday, September 5, 2013

What could possibly go wrong?

Did everyone see this story in the New York Times - that the USDA is going to allow China to process chicken for sale into the US?  Yep. Chinese chicken is on it's way into your soup and nuggets. But it's OK because it will be cooked chicken so we are all safe.

What could possibly go wrong?

In the understatement of the century this article says, "China does not have the best track record for food safety, and its chicken products in particular have raised questions. The country has had frequent outbreaks of deadly avian influenza, which it sometimes has been slow to report."

Oh. And it won't be labeled as coming from China so there is no way to tell where those frozen chicken nuts are coming from....but go ahead and cook up a big batch of them to feed to your kids. I'm sure it will be perfectly safe. 

My pal K posted another article here which reminds us that China can't even produce safe dog treats.... but I'm sure that taking US raised chicken, shipping it to China, having it processed, and then sending it back to the States is going to go off with out a hitch.

Seems that's a lot of miles for one nugget to travel. 

Especially when that chicken is traveling to and from a country famous for having a "dodgy" history for its food industry. According to this, their own folks may not even trust it.

And there is this. 

Don't forget that Smithfield - the largest pork producer - could be sold to a Chinese company. It is me or is it just sound like a stupid idea for a nation like ours - fully capable of growing and producing its own food - to ship it out of the country?  Smell ya later, jobs. See ya, oversight. Goodbye, some modicum of trust in what you buy from the store isn't gonna kill you.

I gotta just say the whole thing bugs me. It just seems even more incredulous that the government is happy to vendor out all this chicken McNuttin' to a country with a proven record of ne'erdowelling... but they are the same folks who think it's OK to send out SWAT teams to a farm for having bad shrubbery.

It could be that the world has officially gone mad.

Just in case you might think that now would be a good time to opt out of all this foolishness, all y'all might want to look into ordering some meat chickens. Meyer Hatchery should be having their fall sale soon. I know I'm getting another round.

I was going to sign this "good luck, suckers" but I realize that not everyone can grow their own food. But everyone can vote - with your dollars and with your actual vote. You might just want to start taking an interest in the goings on. Support your local grower, ask your grocery manager where products and produce is coming from, and for heavens sakes start a garden.

And now I'm going to rally the turkey troops, march them up the hill, and set them to free ranging for the day.

Happy Thursday everyone!

6 comments:

freemotion said...

This is all just crazy!

Yet another reason to know your farmer and his growing practices if you can't grow all of your own food. We increase our food growing area each year, and work hard to improve the area we have so that it is more productive. You'd be amazed at how much food you can grow on as little as a quarter acre.

The Paisley Butterfly said...

This is why I want to homestead.
This is why I hope more people do.
I have put my life in God's hands, and am patiently waiting for His time to send me to a place where I can grow my own food.
Thanks for the heads up!
And keep doing what you are doing, it is much appreciated.
Praying all of God's blessings to rain down on you!

Unknown said...

oh wow, if that doesn't make you want to grow your own and opt out of the "food system", nothing will!

Katie said...

I was pretty horrified. We raised our own meat birds for the first time this year, but we do eat out sometimes, or eat at other people's houses. This whole mess just grosses me out.

collieguy said...

Gone starkers. Not back soon.

Vera said...

France is self sufficient with food, although sometimes imports from local European countries, normally produce which is in season. As we have moved towards self sufficiency I am increasingly becoming suspicious of food from the supermarket shelves, even though most everything is either grown or manufactured here in regards to food.

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