I have about a dozen links open in my browser, and I am never going to have time to put together the post I’d like to put together. Rather than put the links on my desktop, where they will be forgotten tomorrow when another dozen stories on some other topic catch my eye, I’m going to link dump with minimal commentary. Let’s call this an All You Need to Know post, shall we?

Li also told the Xinhua news agency that a larger percentage of Chinese food imports to the U.S. pass inspections than U.S. food exports to China.
–Bush Creates Safety Panel to Address Concerns Over Imports
VOA News

Oh, I find that incredibly hard to believe. Actually, I don’t. Not that I think the US produces and exports food products that are of such horrifically low quality that even the Chinese government refuses to let it into the country, but that the Chinese government might not know what the word “quality” means in the first place.

An amendment to weaken the rules for COOL may be considered today by the committee as they consider the Farm Bill. The amendment would:

• Change the definition of livestock eligible for the USA label, by allowing an animal imported into the United States before slaughter to be considered a product of the United States. This would allow an animal born and raised in another country to be labeled as a product of the United States, which is inaccurate and misleading to consumers.
• Turn labeling for fruits and vegetables into a voluntary program. The amendment would also limit even this voluntary labeling scheme to only the 20 most frequently consumed varieties of raw fruits and vegetables.

–Congress Considers Weakened Country Of Origin Labeling
Food & Water Watch

Bullshit. An animal that is raised somewhere else on the planet and then moved to the USA just before death and processing is NOT a product of the USA, and they damn well know it. And what? The only fruits and veggies we need to care about are the popular ones, and they want to make it voluntary?! Voluntary programs only work when companies and the people running them are ethical and not greedy. Are you willing to bet on that being true? I’m not. I want mandatory COOL now. It’s been a freaking law since 2002, and they just keep pushing it back and redefining it. Bastards.

Phil Lempert is flummoxed.

The supermarket guru and marketing expert is only 5 feet into the produce department of his local supermarket, and already he has found four foods that defy his attempts to answer a simple question: Is this from the United States?
–Is buying American in the bag?
The Clarion-Ledger- Real Mississippi

The whole story is worth a read, so just read it. Then imagine I am Phil Lempert, because that’s me going through a grocery store. I read EVERYTHING, which explains why it takes me so damn long to get the shopping done. Also, here’s a companion story that gives a brief overview of where things in your grocery store are likely to come from. I would have to say there are some large regional variances to this list. Here in Texas, we get a lot of everything from Mexico and South America. I’ll buy just about anything from Mexico except for dairy products. Some day I’ll tell you why no Mexican dairy. For now, just trust me on this. I have my reasons.

Consumers turning to organic food in the wake of warnings about antifreeze-laden toothpaste, poisoned pet food, and antibiotic-laced fish may be in for a surprise. The same country blamed for those scares, China, is quietly muscling in on the organic market.

Upscale grocery chains like Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods now import popular organic snacks such as edamame and canned staples such as kidney beans from China. That has made some buyers looking for pristine, all-natural food a bit skittish.
–China Quietly Muscles In on the Organic Food Market
The New York Sun

It should make people skittish. China hasn’t exactly proven lately that they can manage to use conventional and generally-regarded-as-safe methods to produce foodstuffs. Why the hell would anyone think they could produce something that is truly organic?! It’s freaking hard as hell for American farms to earn the right to wear the Certified Organic label, and while I do feel sorry for farms trying to achieve that goal, I am glad it isn’t a walk in the park to get certified. Is China being as thorough? Remember, this is a country that only just recently banned diethylene glycol from toothpaste, because they don’t see the harm in using it, and a country that hasn’t figured out that lead is a dangerous substance. I’d suggest reading the rest of the article. It’s a little long, but worth reading and pondering. And to all those folks who proclaim they shop at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods because the food is so much better? Good luck avoiding organic products that aren’t so organic. Might be easier if we had COOL, but we don’t, so I hope you folks are psychic.

The Food and Drug Administration has proposed easing labeling requirements for irradiated foods, allowing some zapped products to be exempt from disclosure and others to use the term “pasteurized.”
–FDA plan to relax labeling draws ire
Therapeutics Daily (log ins from BugMeNot)

Oh look, another word that has been redefined. Now pasteurized can mean brought to a high heat to kill germs or it can mean it was irradiated. How freaking delightful. I am not all that concerned about irradiation. It’s probably harmless, and if it works as intended, then fine. In fact, it might even be a better process than pasteurization, which isn’t really all that perfect either. I do think it should be labeled as such or at the very least NOT described as “pasteurized” … because it isn’t really, now is it? These redefinitions of existing words is going to make my brain hemorrhage.

In closing, I would like everyone to consider the phrase “port shopping”. No, I don’t mean buying duty-free goods while on vacation. Port shopping is what happens when imports are turned away by the FDA (during one of their very limited inspections) and then it is moved to another port, because it has a 99.5% chance of not being inspected a second time. Just think about that, let it roll around in your head, allow it to make you queasy. I don’t have any links for this yet, because that’s where I was when I ran out of time to research. I’ll be picking this topic up again the next time I have a few hours to blow at the computer.

Now it’s getting late and I really, really need to go do the dishes and get my All-American beef and sausage meatloaf started. :)