Food For Thought

Meat
That part on the left looks fine.

When it comes to food, the best stories always come out of China. Where else do you get to read about watermelons that explode due to misuse of a growth-accelerator chemical? On Thursday the New York Times reported on China’s latest food scare. During a recent crackdown on smuggled frozen meat, Chinese authorities found beef that was from the 1970’s.

Yup, that’s not a typo. This meat came from Bell-Bottom Farms. And it traveled more miles than Rick Steeves to get to its destination. According to The Times, the meat got shipped from “abroad” (wherever that is) to Hong Kong and then made its way to Vietnam. From there it got smuggled across the border to evade customs taxes and inspections. Once repackaged with Chinese labels, it was good to go.

A Meat Science expert from Colorado State University weighed in on the burning question of what happens when that meat is thawed. He said that consumers would immediately know something is wrong because “the dead giveaway would be the odor and the taste.”  I’m not so sure about that. People eat big Big Macs every day and never suspect that anything is wrong.

In a related story, the Washington Post on Wednesday reported that House Republicans just voted to repeal labeling laws that reveal a meat product’s country-of-origin. Apparently, the World Trade Organization has ruled that our rules discriminate against Canadian and Mexican beef and the US is now facing big fines.

I really hope China signs on to the TPP free-trade agreement that the President and Republicans are pushing. Then the Chinese could send us rat masquerading as lamb. There’s no reason China should be allowed to hoard all of the food-scare fun. You could probably adapt by going vegetarian, but watch out for those watermelon bombs!

watermelon

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3 thoughts on “Food For Thought”

  1. Maybe we should just stop eating altogether, and feed ourselves intravenously.

  2. Well, China is the go-to country for candy with formaldehyde, antifreeze enriched toothpaste, toys with lead paint, drywall with hydrogen sulfide, and poisonous dog food. It wouldn’t really be fair to take away their competitive advantage now, would it?

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