USDA gave greenlight for chicken from China to be sold in US

Hi- I realize this is a few weeks old, but I just ran across it today. The New York Times reported on November 6th, that the USDA is going to allow poultry farms in China to bring fresh and frozen chicken into this country to be sold. Here is a link to the article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/busin ... .html?_r=2

Oh great. As if it doesn't take long enough to read the fine print on all the pet snack packages, now we have to read the fine print on all the chicken packages too.

NFriday wrote:The New York Times reported on November 6th, that the USDA is going to allow poultry farms in China to bring fresh and frozen chicken into this country to be sold.

Actually, the rule allows chicken that is raised and slaughtered in the US, Canada, or Chile to be exported to China for processing and then re-imported back into the US. This practice is already legal and common with seafood. Further, the chicken has to be fully cooked before it is re-imported back into the US.

Katie wrote:Oh great. As if it doesn't take long enough to read the fine print on all the pet snack packages, now we have to read the fine print on all the chicken packages too.

An important loophole in the labeling law is that if the chicken is further processed or repackaged in the US, the package will not have to indicate that the chicken was first processed in China.

Hi- That used to be the case that only the chicken that grew up in the US, was allowed to be processed in China, but according to the article in the NYT that I gave a link to, the USDA is going to allow chicken that is raised in China to be brought to this country. Supposedly Tyson and Purdue say that they are not going to export chicken from China, but I would not be surprised if some place like Jerrys that I believe now has boneless skinless chicken breast on sale for $.99 a pound, would sell Chinese chicken. This ruling was just announced the beginning of November. I am not sure when it goes into effect.

Nancy, I think you've misread the NYT article. It isn't written very clearly, but if you read other news stories about this policy (such as this one or this one) or the FSIS's own site (here), you'll see that the chickens have to be slaughtered in either the US, Canada, or Chile.

Actually, this rule isn't new. It dates to 2013. What's new is that they actually certified the first four processing plants in China to export to the US.

I don't buy much (any) pre-cooked chicken but I find it amazing that there are enough processing cost savings to jusity shipping the product across the Pacific Ocean twice. I'm imagining massive ocean liners packed full of cafeteria grade deli meats.

Or perhaps its for cat or dog food?

AlekH wrote: I find it amazing that there are enough processing cost savings to jusity shipping the product across the Pacific Ocean twice. I'm imagining massive ocean liners packed full of cafeteria grade deli meats.

I guess a person would have to be pretty darn cynical to think that PRC plants manage to process chicken so much more cheaply than US plants by compromising the quality of the finished product in any way.

And - they pass the savings on to YOU!

I would assume that the already cooked chicken would also be used in packaged/prepared/frozen foods such as canned soups and stews, frozen chicken entrees and prefab chicken pieces. I can imagine huge cryovac bags of chicken meat and frozen bales of chicken parts.

Hi- Salmon is already caught in Alaska, and processed in China to save money on processing costs. I am a fan of salmon burgers, and I see the processed in China on a lot of the packages.