Imported fish

[Bird]

One of my wife's brothers came by this evening and took us out to eat at the Red Lobster. The Admiral's Feast is a big meal, but sure good; fried fish, shrimp, scallops, and clams.

 

[kidr]

" Yep, we've been warned, and that's a good thing. But what will you eat instead to get all the nutrition you need and still be guaranteed safe? "

Bird I saw a piece on Discovery Channel about the fish farms in the Asian countries and it would make you sick to see the sewage they are raised in - they also showed the Asian fishing ships with processing factories and flash freezers on board and the conditions the hidden camera revealed would again make you sick. If you can eat fresh water fish or any local fish , and you know where it came from you are fine but to answer your question about what to eat that is nutrional..Skinless, boneless chicken, very lean cuts of beef and pork and lots of vegetables will do just fine.

If you saw the way chicken was processed you wouldn't eat that either. How about the deaths from contaminated veggies? What to do, what to do :confused2:

 

[Regal]

Do you think that video exaggerates a little bit? If the seafood was actually that bad, it seems it wouldn't be found in every supermarket and restaurant in the country.

The video may well be exaggerated. Most news reports are inaccurate to some degree. They have a story to sell. As far as bad product not reaching to every supermarket or restaurant, if only 1% is tested and rejected, then isn't there 99% left to be distributed that never got checked?
I realize that just waking up in the morning comes with risks. There is hardly anything we can touch, breath, or look at that won't cause cancer according to each new report. However, our society is so dollar driven today it seems that we are exposed to some of these things simply for the profits of others.
Where have the morals gone in this world?

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Funny how the OP blames big corporations for this when it is really the fault of the public that purchases. You see imported fish for $5 a pound next to our fish for $8 a pound and the imported fish outsells everytime. This country has asked for cheaper products for a long time and deserve everything they get from it.

As far as cleanliness goes, I have repaired forklifts in literally thousands of food processing plants. I have become numb to almost anything. I think nothing of dropping a slice of pizza face down on my floor, pick it up and eat it. My floor is cleaner than those plants are. Did you know the FDA has standards for how many pounds of mouse feces are allowed in a ton of food? The list goes on and on. Either grow your own food or get used to it.

 

[brin]

Funny how the OP blames big corporations for this when it is really the fault of the public that purchases. You see imported fish for $5 a pound next to our fish for $8 a pound and the imported fish outsells everytime. This country has asked for cheaper products for a long time and deserve everything they get from it.

As far as cleanliness goes, I have repaired forklifts in literally thousands of food processing plants. I have become numb to almost anything. I think nothing of dropping a slice of pizza face down on my floor, pick it up and eat it. My floor is cleaner than those plants are. Did you know the FDA has standards for how many pounds of mouse feces are allowed in a ton of food? The list goes on and on. Either grow your own food or get used to it.

You are exactly right..I have toured chicken plants in Ft. Smith , Ark and Farm Raised Catfish processing operations in the Miss. delta and they were both up to standards but I have seen other plants and the kitchens of many - many restaurants that would make you sick. I just read an article today about eating in restaurants is the easiest way to catch hepatitis. It is not just seafood from other countries, rather I think we all just need to be aware and watchful and not just think everything we consume is safe..it is not !

 

[dave1949]

Funny how the OP blames big corporations for this when it is really the fault of the public that purchases. You see imported fish for $5 a pound next to our fish for $8 a pound and the imported fish outsells everytime. This country has asked for cheaper products for a long time and deserve everything they get from it.

As far as cleanliness goes, I have repaired forklifts in literally thousands of food processing plants. I have become numb to almost anything. I think nothing of dropping a slice of pizza face down on my floor, pick it up and eat it. My floor is cleaner than those plants are. Did you know the FDA has standards for how many pounds of mouse feces are allowed in a ton of food? The list goes on and on. Either grow your own food or get used to it.

I think the average consumer thinks they are comparing 'apples to apples' when looking at $5 fish and $8 fish. The asumption is, 'this food is inspected and meets requirements', so price is the deciding factor. We really expect the Acme Seafood Co. to play by the rules. If we are suspicious or point out the shortcomings, we get labeled as anti-business, big government-types, enviros or greenies or the like. Who lobbies against country of origin food labeling? Not consumers.

At least for every consumer who sees a news story such as the video, they are educated a bit on the topic. And, it points out the problem with self-inspection by food processors. Consumers didn't lobby for that either.

I agree food will never be 100% pure and free of 'unwanted' ingredients. Home grown is as close as we can get probably.
Dave.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

I think the average consumer thinks they are comparing 'apples to apples' when looking at $5 fish and $8 fish. The asumption is, 'this food is inspected and meets requirements', so price is the deciding factor. We really expect the Acme Seafood Co. to play by the rules. If we are suspicious or point out the shortcomings, we get labeled as anti-business, big government-types, enviros or greenies or the like. Who lobbies against country of origin food labeling? Not consumers.

At least for every consumer who sees a news story such as the video, they are educated a bit on the topic. And, it points out the problem with self-inspection by food processors. Consumers didn't lobby for that either.

I agree food will never be 100% pure and free of 'unwanted' ingredients. Home grown is as close as we can get probably.
Dave.

Dave,
Don't know if you have read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair,
but this kind of stuff has been going on for years.
That said, One of the areas that I think that should be MORE government involvement is the area of food safety.
Have had two pets die from crappy Chinese pet food, and can only think that the stuff we are eating, ain't a whole bunch better.
Actually one of my ideas was to raise tilapia here, not a huge investment and a lot of profit.

 

[herd]

You are exactly right..I have toured chicken plants in Ft. Smith , Ark and Farm Raised Catfish processing operations in the Miss. delta and they were both up to standards but I have seen other plants and the kitchens of many - many restaurants that would make you sick. I just read an article today about eating in restaurants is the easiest way to catch hepatitis. It is not just seafood from other countries, rather I think we all just need to be aware and watchful and not just think everything we consume is safe..it is not !

The reason that "restaurants food'' is the #1 reason for the spread of Hepatitis is due to the food handlers not washing their hands, particularly after using the bathroom. I think it is even a more prevalent problem in fast food joints with mostly younger help.

 

[Bird]

I don't doubt that people have gotten it from restaurants, but the only two people in my immediate family who ever got hepatitis, my mother and a sister-in-law, got it in hospitals. No place is safe.:laughing:

 

[dave1949]

Dave,
Don't know if you have read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair,
but this kind of stuff has been going on for years.
That said, One of the areas that I think that should be MORE government involvement is the area of food safety.
Have had two pets die from crappy Chinese pet food, and can only think that the stuff we are eating, ain't a whole bunch better.
Actually one of my ideas was to raise tilapia here, not a huge investment and a lot of profit.

I read it many years ago. 'The Jungle' was written in 1906 and the FDA was created that same year. I think globalization has brought back many of the issues we had pretty well handled in the US.

1906
The original Food and Drugs Act is passed by Congress on June 30 and signed by President Theodore Roosevelt. It prohibits interstate commerce in misbranded and adulterated foods, drinks and drugs.

The Meat Inspection Act is passed the same day.

Shocking disclosures of insanitary conditions in meat-packing plants, the use of poisonous preservatives and dyes in foods, and cure-all claims for worthless and dangerous patent medicines were the major problems leading to the enactment of these laws.

Perhaps the main difference between then and now is people believe the food is being inspected when in reality only a very small percentage is.

Tilapia should be a good project in a warm climate. Years ago I read an article about using a tilapia pond as part of a vegetable growing operation. Something about nutrient rich water from the fish pond used to irrigate the crops and feeding the tilapia waste greens from the veggies I think. It wasn't a commercial scale thing, but maybe food for thought. Double use of the water and reduced fertilizer purchase even if you feed pellets.
Dave.