Bird flu sleuths sent out
Poultry precaution: 300 sites targeted
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER and KIM NORRIS
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
July 13, 2006
Michigan (MI), US
State agriculture officials said Wednesday they aren't sure how much poultry allegedly smuggled into the United States from areas of China affected by the avian flu outbreak made its way into southeast Michigan's Chinese restaurants, Asian markets and residential kitchens.
But they plan to find out.
State agriculture workers and county and local health inspectors are fanning out to 300 Chinese restaurants and Asian grocery stores to search for the frozen poultry -- geese, ducks and chickens with intestines still intact -- distributed by a Troy wholesaler, the Tinsway Co., at the center of the controversy.
It's an incident that raises questions about the purity of the food supply, given the nation's global food network, and what steps people can take to protect themselves.
Officials said as long as the food was cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees, it should not have presented a threat.
"The food supply is safe," said Brad Deacon, emergency management coordinator for the Michigan Department of Agriculture. "We have seen no indication that any of this material was contaminated with avian influenza."
But he and other state agriculture officials conceded that there's no way to know for sure because federal inspectors destroyed all of the poultry they recovered without testing it.
The owner of the 7-year-old Troy company where the poultry was shipped, Wei Zhi Hou, insisted in a telephone interview Wednesday that none of the poultry he purchased from a supplier in New York had been smuggled from China.
"We don't buy chicken or duck from China," Hou said. He called the investigation a "misunderstanding."
Hou, 46, who goes by Wilson, came to the United States 20 years ago from China. He couldn't explain why he was certain the poultry was legal. Hou said he was in the Toronto area to help a friend open a restaurant and denied that he had left the country to avoid inspectors -- contrary to authorities' assertion that he disappeared in late June. He said he plans to return to Troy on Friday.
Hou's accountant, Christine Jen of Troy, said she has known Hou since 1991.
"He's a very responsible person," she said. "I don't think he would knowingly smuggle meat from China, but I also don't think he understands how serious this situation is."
Jen said Hou struggles with English and has a hard time communicating. She said she planned to call him to encourage him to return immediately to meet with authorities.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is investigating Hou, said Wednesday that it seized 1,940 pounds of illegal poultry believed to be from China from the warehouse on June 5 and destroyed it. It said testing would have served no food safety purpose.
State officials found out federal inspectors were in Michigan June 22 after one stopped by the Genesee County Clerk's Office to report that inspectors had just checked a Chinese carryout restaurant Hou once owned in Flint.
Genesee County health officials then alerted state and county authorities that federal inspectors were looking for smuggled flu-contaminated poultry in southeast Michigan.
The USDA said federal and state inspectors returned to the warehouse at the state's request on June 27, and found and impounded five boxes of illegal products, including goose intestines and pig carcasses.
State and federal inspectors returned July 5 to pick up and destroy the items, but discovered that the goose intestines had been swapped with chicken parts, which authorities then destroyed with the pig carcasses. The USDA said it is conducting a criminal probe of the swapped goose intestines.
On July 6, state inspectors seized and destroyed about 1,600 pounds of meat, poultry and other animal products because of state food violations, not because they suspected it was smuggled from China, state officials said.
Officials have said the smuggled poultry was packed in unlabeled boxes or boxes labeled as tilapia fish.
freep.com
Suspect chicken smuggled in from China may have been eaten
News-Medical.Net
Disease/Infection News
Thursday, 13-Jul-2006
Health officials in Michigan in the U.S. are working to track down frozen Chinese poultry smuggled into the United States and found in a warehouse in Oakland County.
The chickens were smuggled in from China, a country still battling to control bird flu outbreaks.
State and Federal investigators are said to have raided the Tinsway Company in Oakland County three times in the last five weeks, confiscating over 2,000 pounds of meat and other improperly labeled food, following a tip off from a restaurant owner near Flint.
Officials apparently found no sign of the frozen chicken, duck and pigeon carcasses, some packed with entrails intact, that are suspected of being contaminated with the deadly avian influenza virus.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted the first raid but did not tell state officials for several weeks which has concerned members of the Oakland County Health Department, who are currently taking part in bio-terrorism training.
According to state officials no testing for bird flu has as yet been carried out by the federal food safety regulators who had taken the lead in an investigation that began in early June.
State officials say some of the contraband poultry was labeled as tilapia in an apparent bid to avoid an import ban, and appears to have been imported in New York or New Jersey.
They say the Michigan-based food wholesaler at the center of the probe, could face criminal or civil charges, meanwhile, the warehouse is still in business.
State inspectors are still trying to compile a complete list of the restaurants supplied by the company but they say a preliminary check shows none of the meat is going into restaurants.
Michigan's Agriculture Department says the owner of the facility has not been identified or located, but a manager has been cooperating with investigators.
State inspectors are still trying to compile a complete list of the 300 or more restaurants supplied by the company but they say a preliminary check indicates that none of the meat is turning up in restaurants.
The risk to the public is apparently low and ensuring the meat is cooked thoroughly, removes any bacteria and any bird flu contamination that might be there.
Investigators however suspect security was breached in New York or New Jersey and Michigan consumers may have already eaten some of the meat.
news-medical.net
Poultry precaution: 300 sites targeted
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER and KIM NORRIS
DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
July 13, 2006
Michigan (MI), US
State agriculture officials said Wednesday they aren't sure how much poultry allegedly smuggled into the United States from areas of China affected by the avian flu outbreak made its way into southeast Michigan's Chinese restaurants, Asian markets and residential kitchens.
But they plan to find out.
State agriculture workers and county and local health inspectors are fanning out to 300 Chinese restaurants and Asian grocery stores to search for the frozen poultry -- geese, ducks and chickens with intestines still intact -- distributed by a Troy wholesaler, the Tinsway Co., at the center of the controversy.
It's an incident that raises questions about the purity of the food supply, given the nation's global food network, and what steps people can take to protect themselves.
Officials said as long as the food was cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees, it should not have presented a threat.
"The food supply is safe," said Brad Deacon, emergency management coordinator for the Michigan Department of Agriculture. "We have seen no indication that any of this material was contaminated with avian influenza."
But he and other state agriculture officials conceded that there's no way to know for sure because federal inspectors destroyed all of the poultry they recovered without testing it.
The owner of the 7-year-old Troy company where the poultry was shipped, Wei Zhi Hou, insisted in a telephone interview Wednesday that none of the poultry he purchased from a supplier in New York had been smuggled from China.
"We don't buy chicken or duck from China," Hou said. He called the investigation a "misunderstanding."
Hou, 46, who goes by Wilson, came to the United States 20 years ago from China. He couldn't explain why he was certain the poultry was legal. Hou said he was in the Toronto area to help a friend open a restaurant and denied that he had left the country to avoid inspectors -- contrary to authorities' assertion that he disappeared in late June. He said he plans to return to Troy on Friday.
Hou's accountant, Christine Jen of Troy, said she has known Hou since 1991.
"He's a very responsible person," she said. "I don't think he would knowingly smuggle meat from China, but I also don't think he understands how serious this situation is."
Jen said Hou struggles with English and has a hard time communicating. She said she planned to call him to encourage him to return immediately to meet with authorities.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is investigating Hou, said Wednesday that it seized 1,940 pounds of illegal poultry believed to be from China from the warehouse on June 5 and destroyed it. It said testing would have served no food safety purpose.
State officials found out federal inspectors were in Michigan June 22 after one stopped by the Genesee County Clerk's Office to report that inspectors had just checked a Chinese carryout restaurant Hou once owned in Flint.
Genesee County health officials then alerted state and county authorities that federal inspectors were looking for smuggled flu-contaminated poultry in southeast Michigan.
The USDA said federal and state inspectors returned to the warehouse at the state's request on June 27, and found and impounded five boxes of illegal products, including goose intestines and pig carcasses.
State and federal inspectors returned July 5 to pick up and destroy the items, but discovered that the goose intestines had been swapped with chicken parts, which authorities then destroyed with the pig carcasses. The USDA said it is conducting a criminal probe of the swapped goose intestines.
On July 6, state inspectors seized and destroyed about 1,600 pounds of meat, poultry and other animal products because of state food violations, not because they suspected it was smuggled from China, state officials said.
Officials have said the smuggled poultry was packed in unlabeled boxes or boxes labeled as tilapia fish.
freep.com
Suspect chicken smuggled in from China may have been eaten
News-Medical.Net
Disease/Infection News
Thursday, 13-Jul-2006
Health officials in Michigan in the U.S. are working to track down frozen Chinese poultry smuggled into the United States and found in a warehouse in Oakland County.
The chickens were smuggled in from China, a country still battling to control bird flu outbreaks.
State and Federal investigators are said to have raided the Tinsway Company in Oakland County three times in the last five weeks, confiscating over 2,000 pounds of meat and other improperly labeled food, following a tip off from a restaurant owner near Flint.
Officials apparently found no sign of the frozen chicken, duck and pigeon carcasses, some packed with entrails intact, that are suspected of being contaminated with the deadly avian influenza virus.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted the first raid but did not tell state officials for several weeks which has concerned members of the Oakland County Health Department, who are currently taking part in bio-terrorism training.
According to state officials no testing for bird flu has as yet been carried out by the federal food safety regulators who had taken the lead in an investigation that began in early June.
State officials say some of the contraband poultry was labeled as tilapia in an apparent bid to avoid an import ban, and appears to have been imported in New York or New Jersey.
They say the Michigan-based food wholesaler at the center of the probe, could face criminal or civil charges, meanwhile, the warehouse is still in business.
State inspectors are still trying to compile a complete list of the restaurants supplied by the company but they say a preliminary check shows none of the meat is going into restaurants.
Michigan's Agriculture Department says the owner of the facility has not been identified or located, but a manager has been cooperating with investigators.
State inspectors are still trying to compile a complete list of the 300 or more restaurants supplied by the company but they say a preliminary check indicates that none of the meat is turning up in restaurants.
The risk to the public is apparently low and ensuring the meat is cooked thoroughly, removes any bacteria and any bird flu contamination that might be there.
Investigators however suspect security was breached in New York or New Jersey and Michigan consumers may have already eaten some of the meat.
news-medical.net