22 TONS OF FAKE BEEF SEIZED IN CHINA

[BridgeTheGap]

(Given the recent approval by the FDA to import chicken from China, one must ask: will it really be chicken? - btg)
This week, police in Xi’an province reported that they had found and seized more than 22 tons of fake beef at a local factory. Get this: the “beef” was actually made from pork (which is considerably cheaper than beef) that had been treated with chemicals including paraffin wax and industrial salts to make it look like it came from a cow. Shanghiist reports that the factory sold more than 1,500 kilos (3,000 pounds) of the fake beef to local markets at around 25 to 33 yuan ($4 or $5) per kilo. Six workshops that were producing the fake beef have been discovered and shut down.

This isn’t the first instance of fake meat being sold in China. In May of this year, Medical Daily reported that 904 people were arrested in China for “meat-related offenses” over three months at the beginning of 2013. Included in these arrests was one gang of meat crooks who made over 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) by selling rat, fox, and mink meat at markets. This makes us wonder what impostor foods we might be eating, which in turn makes us very, very uncomfortable.

http://firstwefeast.com/eat/20000-kilos-of-fake-beef-seized-in-xian-china/

[Historic NY]

1. I wonder if we can FOIL who is buying the crap they are selling..

here.

[Aerows]

6. You can't

because now it is okay for us to ship US chickens and process them in China, and we get back heaven knows what. It's some serious bullshit that you can ship something with no FDA officials to a foreign country, they "process" it there, and it gets shipped right back to be put on the table of school children, in fast food restaurants, and fed to everybody that isn't aware.

[Historic NY]

11. So my read is its processed chicken...

like tenders, strips and other bagged stuff. That "tastes like chicken", will have new meaning. soon.

[Aerows]

17. You read it right

and no country of origin needs to be declared. For all you know, it is chicken processed in the USA.

[Historic NY]

53. Good thing I buy stuff that still looks like its chicken.

[Aerows]

55. It might still "look" like it

but you never know.

[KamaAina]

2. ...

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. ahhh......porch rabbit!!!!!

[Aerows]

38. Yep

and you won't know, because it is "chicken" from the USA, processed in China, and shipped back to the USA with no FDA involved.

[Aerows]

3. Be overjoyed that they can now process chicken

and import it right back into the US. Woo hoo, the gate has been opened for who knows what.

I am a dedicated carnivore, but this is turning me towards not eating chicken.

[abelenkpe]

26. Wait, What?

The chicken comes from here, goes to China to get processed, then comes back? And we don't have any labeling that says so?

[Aerows]

37. Yep

You read that correctly.

[abelenkpe]

52. Ok

Barely eat any meat as it is.

Now I see no reason to eat any at all. That is so ridiculous and wasteful and I'm sorry I really don't want to eat food that isn't properly labeled and up front with customers.

We can't employ all the people who want to work in this country but we can fly chicken from the US and back. For what? To skip regulations and inspections here? I just do not get it.

[lumberjack_jeff]

40. We've searched locally for alternatives to Costco chicken.

The only local farm in my area who sells non- "cornish cross", free range chickens sells 'em for about $25.00 each.

For the time being, I guess we're stuck with the costco stuff.

[Aerows]

43. I hope you like ... "chicken"

it's coming to a store near you.

[lumberjack_jeff]

48. At least the Foster Farms frozen chicken breasts look like chicken breasts.

Freakishly large and immature, but still recognizably chicken.

We did find a local source for grass fed beef though and we expect our order (at a comparable price to that of the local meat market) to be ready sometime this month.

[Aerows]

50. I think I'm going to lay off of chicken for a while

This crap will be circulating in our food supply for decades.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

54. We sometimes get the broiled chicken

At least it is a whole bird, but I understand it is likely Corp. Farm Raised...

We used to look for "Rocky Range" from Petaluma, free range chickens.

[lumberjack_jeff]

57. The problem with commercial meat chickens is that they are mutant freaks.

They grow such large breasts in such a short period of time that the birds often can't walk after 3 months of age or so and will die miserable deaths shortly thereafter if not slaughtered.

I get that it's much cheaper to invest only 8 weeks into a bird intended for meat, but it'd be nice to find an alternative source of chickens which don't cost an arm and a leg.

[Auggie]

4. When I do buy meat and seafood, I pay double, sometimes even more ...

because I buy it from quality, local producers. I'll gladly pinch pennies elsewhere.

[Lancero]

5. What will they use for the fake chicken though? Also, this

[img][/img]

[Aerows]

7. Under the new agreement

where we ship our slaughtered chickens to be "processed" in China, you have no idea what you will be ingesting.

[Lancero]

10. I'm just wondering what they'd use to fake it.

On the other, I might not want to know.

They counterfeit pills too. They make em out of chalk, plaster, or whatever else they can press into a pill-like shape. I know that their methods for counterfeiting would be disgusting, but I still can't help but wonder.

Actually... Perhaps they wouldn't have to? Fake the chicken I mean... I've heard about storehouses filled with old chicken, decades old, getting seized after someone decided to start passing it off as fresh.

[Aerows]

13. 46 year old chicken

Mmm, mmm good.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10165968/Chinese-police-discover-chicken-feet-for-sale-46-years-past-sell-by-date.html

Not a horse shit story, but a FACT.

[KoKo]

8. Thanks for the laugh...after reading this article...

[yesphan]

51. And all too

common.

I imagine a sliding door between the two.

[PearliePoo2]

9. If it comes from China or (nowadays) Japan..

I want nothing to do with it. What the Chinese are also doing to honey is criminal.
Poisonous, tainted food...forget it.
This is why we NEED government agencies like the FDA for safety in what we consume.
If the market had its un-checked way, we would be poisoned to death.

[PearliePoo2]

12. Chicken from China? No freakin' way.

I always look for the country of origin and where it's PROCESSED at. This goes for any meat or seafood that I buy.
Draper Valley Farms!
http://www.drapervalleyfarms.com/our_chicken.htm

I hope the companies that send chickens to China for "processing" lose their shirts and go broke.

[Aerows]

14. They don't have to disclose the country of origin for processing.

That's what makes this law so fowl, pardon the pun.

[PearliePoo2]

20. I wonder how they can ship chicken to China

"Process" it, ship it back here and still make a profit? Is it because of the Chinese slaves that are used in the "processing plants, so therefore ultra cheap labor costs?
This stinks to high heaven.
And who is going to be lining up to buy this shit? Fast food companies?
I can hear the PR, deceptive, marketing "spin" now, when consumers inquire where their McNuggets came from.
fuckers.

[Aerows]

30. Yep

That's the same thing I wonder. I stinks to high heaven. This is a destruction of our food supply. I won't touch a piece of processed chicken, now, and neither will anyone else be able to do so for decades. 46-year old chicken feet pretty much soured me on anything chicken related that could possibly come from China, and they don't have to declare the origin.

[kestrel91316]

29. I don't eat processed meats. Actually........

I don't eat any meats at all anymore. Problem solved.

[Aerows]

32. Looks like the way

we are all headed if we don't want to be poisoned.

[WilliamPitt]

15. Beif: It's what's for dinner, because fuck you, that's why!

[closeupready]

16. I brownbag almost every day, and

stories like this are partially why. When I make my own meals, I know exactly what goes into it.

[Aerows]

18. You know exactly what goes in it

if you grew it yourself and raised it yourself. Under laws like these, you have no idea where it was processed because they DON'T have to declare. Not having to declare should be the first red flag that it is a bad law because they don't want consumers to be informed.

[closeupready]

21. Well what I mean is stuff like, for example, bread.

I know where it is baked - it's a bakery in my neighborhood. Perishables like green onions wouldn't last the boat trip from Shanghai, and the apples I buy are stickered with their point of origin (I stick to New York State apples).

If you mean beef and chicken, I buy meat and poultry only from the local Costco, and their brands are transparent. They do have food products processed or manufactured in China, but the labels generally indicate that. If they do, OR if the label gives NO indication as to source, I won't buy it.

[Aerows]

23. That's a good idea

Understand something - Chinese media pushes that everyone suffers like they do in China. When they have an outbreak of something outrageous, they try to paint the world as everyone having the same problem so that their image doesn't suffer as badly.

Now we'll get their "chicken" processed over there with heaven only knows what in it, it won't be labeled, and suddenly, we become a PR campaign when we eat whatever in the hell it is that is shipped over.

This is a disaster in the making, for a number of reasons, and pretty much all processed chicken needs to be off limits if you want to keep your health.

[Aerows]

19. I know now where to unload 46 year old chicken

Oh wait, that could be us, since it can now be processed in China, shipped to the US with no labeling requirements. Mmm, mmm, good.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10165968/Chinese-police-discover-chicken-feet-for-sale-46-years-past-sell-by-date.html

[MineralMan]

22. I don't shop for meat in China.

None of the meat I buy comes from China.

I did see some chicken feet the other day in an oriental market where I sometimes shop for specific products. I didn't buy them. While I like chicken feet, my wife doesn't, so it didn't seem like a good idea.

[Aerows]

24. How do you know?

How will you know since the law allows it to be processed in China and shipped back with no origin necessary?

[MineralMan]

28. I know, because I know the source of it.

I make it a point to buy meat only when I can track it to its source. Doesn't everyone do that? My chickens come from a farm about 100 miles from where I live. Pork comes from Austin, MN. Turkey comes from one of the turkey farms in Minnesota. I don't eat beef, except on rare occasions, and I know its origins when I do.

Seafood indicates its source on the packaging, and I know seafood of all the types I eat on sight, so it's not something other than what it says it is.

I know, because I make it my business to know. How about you?

[Aerows]

35. Well, I like to cook

So I know what I'm putting into my food. I'm more concerned with children that eat processed lunches at school, the elderly, and those in institutions. Why should they have to be subjected to this?

It's great to be aware of everything you put in your body, and many are, but many don't have control over that ... like a child eating chicken nuggets at the school cafeteria. Like I said, this is a catastrophe waiting to happen in such environs.

[MineralMan]

39. No kids in school for me.

If I did have kids in school, they'd be taking their lunches to school.

I think the beef in the OP is made for the Chinese market, not the US market.

[Aerows]

42. Read the article I linked at the bottom

You will see why I am concerned. But yes, this is beef, but fear the processed chicken. And as a kid, I always brown-bagged it. I've eaten more peanut butter sandwiches than most

[kestrel91316]

33. Avoid "processed" chicken aka pieces-parts-compressed-shaped-chicken-ish shit in a box.

Buy actual chicken.

[Aerows]

36. I like to cook

So I'm probably not going to be among those affected. My concern is for those forced to rely upon institutional meals like school children.

[kestrel91316]

44. Isn't there some regulation about US sourcing for school lunch ingredients?

[Aerows]

46. I assume they follow USDA laws

Which deem this okay. Not that there will be a USDA official overseeing the 4 plants in China that will be processing the "chicken".

[JanMichael]

25. Every day I read an article

that makes me happy to be a vegetarian.

And no, I am not protein deprived; I am not hungry....and I am not preachy.

But, I do wonder who can read these stories and want a hamburger. We tell people that we quit because of cholesterol, but the truth of the matter is we quit because the meat industry is so vile and disgusting that we just don't want to have anything to do with it anymore.

Folks, it's that bad out there--- please just try to eat as wisely as possible.

[closeupready]

31. I need to eat meat, or I get anemic.

There are organic meat processors, too - I buy only from Costco, they sell several brands from meat processing vendors whose practices are transparent.

For example, Organic Ranchers is a brand of ground beef they sell - I feel confident that their ground beef is reasonably healthy.

[Half-Century Man]

27. Ya gotta give em points for creativity

Counterfeit cows.....amazing

[Aerows]

41. In case anyone thought I was shitting them

http://nypost.com/2013/09/15/schumer-blasts-usdas-decision-to-allow-us-chicken-processing-in-china/

I shit you not.

[kestrel91316]

45. THIS is the problem:

".....on-site US inspectors will not be required at these sites so there is simply no guarantee that food safety laws are up to United States standards....."

[Aerows]

47. Yes, and that is what

tells me this is a catastrophe waiting to happen.

[BridgeTheGap]

56. No, thanks, to ANY Chinese food shipped to the U.S.! Go local! n.t

[TheDeputy]

58. Recently, I have taken to local butchers.

Local butchers are the best. Mom and Pop businesses. I like to use the local Mexican grocery and the traditional butcher.

[Enthusiast]

59. Sign the TPP!

Good for merican jobs!