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USDA May Let China Import Chicken?

Mike

Well-known member
USDA may allow China to import chickens
Asian nation has battled bird flu; 14 died
BY DAVID GOLDSTEIN
McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to allow China, where 14 people have died of bird flu since 2003, to sell chicken to the United States.

The agency is drafting a rule that would permit China to export cooked poultry to Americans, even though public health officials have been warning for several years about a potential avian influenza pandemic.

Food safety watchdog groups are alarmed, but U.S. poultry producers, who would be facing new competition, are generally keeping mum. Some believe that the proposed rule could be a bargaining chip to get the Chinese to drop a ban on U.S. beef imports that they imposed after a case of mad-cow disease in 2003.

The World Health Organization has said that chicken and other poultry are safe to eat when cooked at the proper temperatures. USDA spokesman Steven Cohen said that since the exported chicken would be cooked, there'd be no risk to public health.

"It does appear at this time there would be no objections" from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Services, he said.

Avian flu is a contagious disease among birds, and sometimes pigs. It can infect humans -- if they either come in contact with infected birds or eat raw or undercooked infected poultry -- in the form of a severe respiratory infection.

Cohen cautioned that the rule-making on Chinese chicken exports was in its infancy. But food safety advocates said they were surprised that the USDA was thinking about allowing poultry exports from China, given that the country has had 22 cases of the avian flu virus since 2003.

"The reality is China has had cases of avian influenza within their flocks," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group concerned with health and nutrition issues. "It wouldn't seem like a good time to be importing poultry, even cooked poultry."

The National Chicken Council, the industry's trade group, had no comment about the new rule. "We're going to have to wait and see," said spokesman Richard Lobb.

James Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, said his "sole concern" would be whether China could satisfy the USDA's health and safety requirements.

The proposed rule would continue to loosen restrictions on China's chicken exports. In 2006, the USDA approved a rule that allows China to export cooked chicken to the United States, provided that the raw chicken China used came from elsewhere.

Cohen said the chicken had to be from either the United States or Canada, because the birds had to be from countries free of any trace of the avian flu with food safety precautions similar to those in the U.S.

The Office of Management and Budget had to review the policy change, a process that normally takes weeks, if not months. But the 2006 rule was on a fast track. The OMB received the rule from the USDA on April 18, approved it April 19 and officially announced it April 20, the same day that Chinese President Hu Jintao was in Washington on an official visit.

Word that the USDA wanted to ease restrictions further surfaced early last month when an Indian news service reported that a top USDA official had been in China recently for talks about poultry exports.

"The old rule hasn't even cooled off and they're already moving toward an expansion," said Tony Corbo, a legislative lobbyist for Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit food safety watchdog group. "There doesn't seem to be a track record to evaluate what China has done, even under the old system. Why are we doing this?"

The issue could have just as much to do with cows as it does chickens. The beef industry has been unable to tap the Chinese market since Beijing blocked American beef imports after a case of mad-cow disease surfaced in 2003.

China, meanwhile, has been trying for several years to export chicken here. The United States is the world's largest producer of chicken. Less than 1 percent of the chicken consumed here comes from abroad.

Cohen denied that the proposed chicken rule had anything to do with an effort to coax China to drop its beef ban, but industry insiders and observers said they thought it was a factor. They said China wants a quid pro quo for dropping its beef ban and often links issues in trade talks.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy couldn't be reached for comment.

Since the late 1990s, avian flu, known as the H5N1 virus, has been spreading among some bird flocks in Asia. More recently it has spread to parts of Europe. The World Health Organization has reported 272 human cases and 166 deaths since 2003.

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We touched on this subject a few months back when Tyson applied for a permit to build a poultry processing plant in China....................... :roll:
 

Econ101

Well-known member
With the huge trade surplus China has with the U.S., they want their negotiators to link beef trade with chicken trade? It seems our trade negotiators already have a failing grade with this imbalance and the now its seems they are entertaining more negotiations?

Why not require a floating Yuan, open investments in China, and require intellectual rights to be respected.

It seems all our negotiators can do is give away our domestic production and hope China uses its earnings to subsidize our interest rates. Gotta keep Wall Street earnings and home prices high.
 

mwj

Well-known member
Econ101 said:
With the huge trade surplus China has with the U.S., they want their negotiators to link beef trade with chicken trade? It seems our trade negotiators already have a failing grade with this imbalance and the now its seems they are entertaining more negotiations?

Why not require a floating Yuan, open investments in China, and require intellectual rights to be respected.

It seems all our negotiators can do is give away our domestic production and hope China uses its earnings to subsidize our interest rates. Gotta keep Wall Street earnings and home prices high.

The simple reason is the consumers in this country want to go to Walmart and spend the least money they can.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
.... and China would rather buy our future off the backs of their citizens rather than engage us in a military duel. That is exactly what a manipulated currency allows.

Too bad the politicians/trade negotiators are dumb to take them up on it.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Yes and were importing Peanuts Too. Bet ConAgra used Peanuts from overseas. Soooooo the next problem

FDA Warns Consumers Not to Eat Certain Jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Great Value Peanut Butter

Product May be Contaminated With Salmonella

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to eat certain jars of Peter Pan peanut butter or Great Value peanut butter due to risk of contamination with Salmonella Tennessee (a bacterium that causes foodborne illness). The affected jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter have a product code located on the lid of the jar that begins with the number "2111." Both the Peter Pan and Great Value brands are manufactured in a single facility in Georgia by ConAgra. Great Value peanut butter made by other manufacturers is not affected.

If consumers have any of this Peter Pan or Great Value brand peanut butter in their home that has been purchased since May 2006, they should discard it.

Symptoms of foodborne illness caused by Salmonella include fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. In persons with poor underlying health or weakened immune systems, Salmonella can invade the bloodstream and cause life-threatening infections. Individuals who have recently eaten Peter Pan and Great Value brand peanut butter beginning with product code 2111 and have experienced any of these symptoms should contact their doctor or health care provider immediately. Any such illnesses should be reported to state or local health authorities.

FDA's warning is based on a just-completed epidemiological study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the states and local health agencies, which links 288 cases of foodborne illness in 39 states to consumption of varying types of Peter Pan peanut butter. This report was provided to FDA on February 13.

The outbreak appears to be ongoing and the first consumer may have become ill in August 2006. The cause of foodborne illnesses can be difficult to identify. As a result of extensive epidemiological testing and recent case control studies, CDC was recently able to identify Peter Pan peanut butter as the likely cause of illness. Great Value brand peanut butter beginning with product code 2111 is manufactured in the same plant as Peter Pan peanut butter and, thus, is believed to be at similar risk of contamination.

ConAgra is recalling all Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter beginning with product code 2111 that already was distributed. The company also is destroying all affected products in their possession. The company will cease production until the exact cause of contamination can be identified and eliminated. ConAgra will advise consumers to destroy any Peter Pan and Great Value brand peanut butter beginning with product code 2111 in their possession. To assist in this endeavor, FDA has sent investigators to ConAgra's processing plant in Sylvester, Georgia where the products are made to review records, collect product samples and conduct tests for Salmonella Tennessee.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
In ANY recall or recommendation of throwing out a product, the company who produced it should immediately have to put up the value of the total recall as a penalty.

We have developed such limited controls over food service companies that we have allowed it to become economically profitable for companies to put consumers at risk with no penalty to the processors who make those products.

This is a system that is prone to enforcement mitigation through politicians.
 
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