Should we be concerned about our meat purchases???

I hear Kosher standards are pretty high. That is why Hebrew National is so popular. Wonder if I can afford this......:shock:
 
I am very particular about the meat, and honestly. All of the ingredients I cook with. I don't go nuts, as I eat at restaurants where I can't control everything. In terms of avoiding things such as farmed fish and shrimp, I don't buy it. I know first hand how bad that stuff is.
 
The fill in the blank animal being raised here and shipped to China for processing has been going around for some time.

As for knowing where your food comes from I'm all for it. I'm like Jeanie in that I try to produce as much of my own as possible or at least buy from reliable sources what I can't.
 
I am very close to trying to keep everything local that I eat......I'm not some fanatic or nut job(unless you ask my wife! :loco::loco:).

I have had the privilege (curse :shocked:) to travel to many different countries, and even the ones we consider industrialized (China, Brazil, etc.) have very different standards than we do, and usually a level of poverty present that most of us here cannot fathom. We take for granted what most of the world goes without.

The article may be sensationalized, but I'll bet it's not too far off........You should know where your food comes from.
 
EricD said:
As was said a few posts ago, I'm on the fence about the validity of the article too. However, if this is even remotely true....What the fark do we have an FDA for? And why aren't 'we the people' on their case to do their job?
Click to expand...

The article is a mixture of truth and scaremongering. I did a wee bit o googling.

Here's a GAO report criticizing the FDA for lax oversight of imported seafood:

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-286

I vaguely recall a proposed bill to move responsibility for imported seafood to the USDA but I'm too lazy to find it.

Snopes article on Smithfield and China:

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/smithfield.asp
 
Grillard said:
The article is a mixture of truth and scaremongering. I did a wee bit o googling.

Here's a GAO report criticizing the FDA for lax oversight of imported seafood:

http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-286

I vaguely recall a proposed bill to move responsibility for imported seafood to the USDA but I'm too lazy to find it.

Snopes article on Smithfield and China:

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/smithfield.asp
Click to expand...

You beat me to it, Grillard. I was about to post that Snopes link too.
 
Thread Scrubbed. Keep it on topic. If you have nothing of value to add....well, then leave the thread.

Thanks,

Bob
 
iBBQ said:
"The hogs will still be raised here, but slaughtered and packaged for sale there before being sent back here."

I would need some info to fully believe this. If this was a Wall Street Journal or some other top newspaper, fine, but I don't know what the "Hot Springs Daily" is.

Other than that, I agree, we should know where our food comes from and buy quality, not quantity.
Click to expand...

The only truth in this is that the US pork industry is owned by Chinese corporations.
 
I try to look at where the meat product came from and where it was processed at.If it's processed in most of the western pacific region I pass on it.
 
I do my best to avoid Smithfield Pork. Even before they were bought by the Chinese, they were at that top of the heap of controversial US pork producers.

Their biggest hog operations were based in NC and they were always having to defend the open cesspools (sewers) the hogs were raised in and the undocumented workers they imported and abused (spelled: S.L.A.V.E.R.Y)

Everything about that company smells like sewage
 
I quote part of an article:

Moreover, people engaged in that industry have told us that the notion of a Chinese-owned company raising hogs in the U.S., shipping them live all the way to China for slaughtering and processing, then exporting the meat back into the U.S. would be prohibitively cost-inefficient — especially since the slaughtering and processing infrastructures already exist in the U.S., and the Chinese domestic market for pork is far, far larger than the U.S. market for pork.
 
SirPorkaLot said:
I do my best to avoid Smithfield Pork. Even before they were bought by the Chinese, they were at that top of the heap of controversial US pork producers.

Their biggest hog operations were based in NC and they were always having to defend the open cesspools (sewers) the hogs were raised in and the undocumented workers they imported and abused (spelled: S.L.A.V.E.R.Y)

Everything about that company smells like sewage
Click to expand...

Yes Smithfield and the other big player (I forget the name) wrapped up approximately 90% Chinese ownership of the US market. Well documented 3 or 4 years ago. Looking to expand the export market over seas. All still very much based on US soils and mentioned here several times when it went down.
 
Smithfield and most big mega hog operators are not well liked in my area. You should actually see how they're raised to appreciate our dislike for them. But the general public wants cheap meat and that's how it's raised. Since this is a site based on cooking I think most of you realize corporate raised meat sucks. I buy local from folks that free range their cattle, hogs, chickens etc... but I'm a farmer and although I don't raise everything I eat the guys I have coffee with are the folks that do and I buy from him.

Now if someone could figure out how to grow veggies in the winter around here they'd have my business too!
 
Pasture raised hogs might as well be unicorns for the average California pork buyer. Everything gets snapped up by restaurants, or folks who will spend any amount to get the meat.

On the other hand, we get fresh local produce all winter.
 
Norm said:
Now if someone could figure out how to grow veggies in the winter around here they'd have my business too!
Click to expand...

I also buy local meats when possible but not always an option. I have free range moose in the freezer from last fall.

As for veggies it's coming based on European and Canadian models. Look up backyard farms in Anson, Maine. Two 17 acre greenhouses growing mostly tomatoes and now expanding into hydroponic cucumbers and peppers. Distribution costs way less than shipping 3,000 miles from Mexico or Ca and grown less than 100 miles from my house.
 
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