According to the article, the U.S Department
of Agriculture gave four Chinese companies approval to export cooked poultry
products to the United States. But, in order to export chicken to
the U.S, the chicken itself must come from countries that have USDA approved
poultry standard (America, Canada, Chile). Therefore, this is not an effective way to
do business, the Chinese
companies would need to have chickens shipped in frozen from America, then cook
them, refreeze them and send them back to...America. Until now, no
Chinese chicken product has been exported to the U.S, but, this is a victory
for China’s poultry industry because it’s mean that some of the processors are
up to U.S standard.
Seems interesting we are able to get food products from other countries, but we draw the line at meat.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an interesting idea but honestly I fear if the quality would remain consistent throughout this manufacturing and selling process. A lot of US consumers have negative attitude towards different imported products from China, and I wonder if this would be an addition to the list. People are more inclined towards the local produce and I would be surprised if this new way of importing chicken gets positive signals from the consumers as it sounds like a whole new bizarre technique of food processing.
ReplyDeleteI believe that ever since the 1930 where there have been stricter policies on how meat has to be taken of, therefore America only lets a certain countries to regulate meat that can be imported into America. Therefore countries have to go through a bunch of hoops to get meet into America. This process doesn't affect the meat by much because they still able to be sold in America
ReplyDeleteI think the real solution here is to bring agriculture closer to home. Although I am a strong proponent of a market where trade is accessible and easy, I don't think poultry production is the way to use those privileges. The health and nutrition of chicken that has traveled thousands of miles to reach its destination can't possibly be as good as a locally raised chicken. If small urban farms started popping up across the country, the issue of flying frozen chickens around the world wouldn't be an issue, local economies would be stimulated, and the general health and well being of our country would increase.
ReplyDeleteAmerica has a very strict way process of importing food products. Therefore, even though Chinese food products have to go through multiple processing steps to get into the US, I believe this is definitely a success for China's poultry industry.
ReplyDeleteUnless the U.S. is having problems with its supply of chicken I don't see why we would want to outsource and purchase chicken from foreign markets anyways. If the market isn't having troubles why bring in foreign competition that will drive out local producers and only hurt local economies and farmers. Also, China has exported and mass bread fish for a while now, and the health conditions that they bread their fish under is quite disgusting. I wouldn't necessarily want to be getting chicken from overseas.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Reilly that the integrity of meat being transported across the world is more likely to lead to health issues, but the problem is not that there aren't enough small urban farms in America, since the chickens are originally coming from here. The chicken is transported raw to China where it is cooked and then returned. The solution would be to create business domestically that cook the chicken, which indeed would create new jobs and stimulate the economy as well as reducing possible health risks.
ReplyDelete"Drawing the line" at meat is a real concern; the number of food borne illnesses (barring allergies) associated with meats and dairy products far exceeds all others. Part of this is probably that it isn't as easy to recognize "bad" meat compared to produce that rots.
ReplyDelete"The country's poultry industry has also been rocked by periodic outbreaks of avian flu," as well; this is an interesting note too, and definitely effects the market as a whole.