Chinese grain causing more poison problems???

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Please don't delete this thread, it is meant more as a public service than a rant...

I saw where the same problem that hit the pet food industry is now turning up in feed for hogs. Probably next cattle. Some are being quaranteened. Watch what you eat. I'm paranoid of many things produced in countries where standards are much lower than ours.

I thought America is the breadbasket. Why do we have to buy grains from China? Its hard to believe that they can do it cheaper than we can. They don't have enough plantable land as it is if I understand some of the stuff I've seen. I guess after all the lawsuits settle over the petfood industry, we'll see just how much it saved the company.

Did anyone else notice that it took a while before they acknowledged the problem and disseminated the alerts? I don't think they wanted the public to know that most brands are made at the same place. I'm talking from Ole' Roy to the high end brands. I'm glad I don't have a dead or sick pet, I'd be steaming. Watch what you eat.

It doesn't take a hair to fall for other nations to cut off our ability to sell them beef and other goods. Where's our politicians when we need them?
It's not like the trade balance isn't bad enough. Ok, I ranted too.

 

[scott_vt]

Why do we have to buy grains from China? Its hard to believe that they can do it cheaper than we can.

Afternoon Kyle,
Well, probably for the same reason that we sent the best part of our entire manufacturing base over there ! The same reason that we sent all our foundries over there ! The list just goes on and on, its just the sad truth unfortunately ! I wish there was a way to change it, but it appears this whole process is in motion with no way to slow it down !

 

[mjarrels]

It is my understanding that the recalled pet foods were being fed to the hogs rather than be destroyed.

"China is not our friend"

mark

 

[thcri]

Why do we have to buy grains from China? Its hard to believe that they can do it cheaper than we can.

Pretty much the same reasons as what Scott said. And don't see it changing for a long time. My personal opinion is labor cost. We have escolated our labor costs so much higher than China. We have manufactures here in the US that ships product out just to have it assembled and brought back in the US.

murph

 

[riptides]

It is a resource use issue. Think about it. Let someone else burn their resources producing stuff, pretty soon something runs out. You step in with bigger/badder/insert favorite next gen stuff here.


Another side to the story - America does a h o r r i b l e job at tracking and protecting its food stores and sources. So it is our own fault.

-Mike Z.

 

[livincountry]

I heard quite some time ago that China is using pesticides and herbicides that we outlawed years and years ago. They also have no laws regarding worker safety, polution controls, etc. This year they will produce more greenhouse gases than the US and yet we get the bad press. I guess it's because we have a conscious and they could care less about the environment or their people (or ours for that matter).

The next few years will be interesting to say the least.

 

[dmccarty]

I have been worried about this for the last six months or so.

I have been going to two asian markets to buy certain foods. We like Edamae which is just green soybeans. One market I go to has some really good prices and alot of their food is from China. The other market is a small privately owned Japanese store. Many of their products are also from China.

I can buy a one pound bag of Edamae in the Asian market for something like $1.30. The little Japanese store is a bit under $2. I can go to a local market that is $3 for one pound for soybeans from California. The idea that a bag of FROZEN soybeans can be shipped across the Pacific to the east coast of the US cheaper than US grown is shocking. Its soybeans for goodness sake. My wife's family grows them on their farm in eastern NC!

I have stopped buying the cheaper stuff and HOPE that the Japanese packages of the Chinese soybeans are safe...

There are other products I'm buying that have the same issues.

I have some soybeans I'm going to plant this afternoon.

Later,
Dan

 

[livincountry]

Dan, are these special soybeans you're buying? I have about 200 acres behind me that will be in beans this year

Doubt they are the same. I eat edamame all the time...they look kinda like lima beans compared to the round soybeans or maybe they are just dried up?

Tonight I'm getting into the chicken raising hobby. Should be fun!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Well, probably for the same reason that we sent the best part of our entire manufacturing base over there ! The same reason that we sent all our foundries over there ! The list just goes on and on, its just the sad truth unfortunately ! I wish there was a way to change it, but it appears this whole process is in motion with no way to slow it down !

Don't get me started on this. I've worked in manufacturing for 25 years. I don't won't to get political.

In the future, when historians look back at the facts and that we let our manufacturing base waste away, I wonder what term they'll coin for this "era". Pun intended... The chinese have us in their financial reigns. Some companies have found that the $$$ saved building their parts abroad are minimized when time lost and descrepant parts are factored in.

 

[coffeeman]

In the future, when historians look back at the facts and that we let our manufacturing base waste away, I wonder what term they'll coin for this "era". Pun intended... The chinese have us in their financial reigns. Some companies have found that the $$$ saved building their parts abroad are minimized when time lost and descrepant parts are factored in.

Ya know? It's a throw away world. Buy it cheap and pitch instead of fixing. Maybe the time has come to bring back the YUGO?

Cheers

 

[dmccarty]

Dan, are these special soybeans you're buying? I have about 200 acres behind me that will be in beans this year

The edamae I planted last night said "edamae" and "soybeans" on the package. I think the difference is when you pick. The ones in the field they let go and "dry". The package said to pick when they start to turn yellow from green. Which makes sense. I'll find out in a month or two.

The beans in the package looked like soybeans to me.

Later,
Dan

 

[dbdartman]

Don't think this pet food poisoning is a recent thing! We believe, & have heard reports, that this has been happening for the last 18 months or so. Around that time, we had previously healthy cats getting REALLY thin, loosing hair at an alarming rate, & throwing up constantly. When we changed foods, the cats started putting weight back on, stopped yacking & their coats have stopped shedding like crazy & look better. We've been raising & showing cats since the mid 60's & never saw something like this before. Every day, it seems, we're hearing about more wide spread recalls of tainted pet foods. It's scary! Thinking about how easy it would be for this to be happening to the human food supply, it's even scarier!

 

[JoeR]

PBS has a documentary on China, and it is scary! 70% of their rivers are so polluted that they are not fit for human, or animal consumption, and plants die from the water too. They have such a polluted water issue, that the Chinese are planning a 50 Billion dollar project to bring water from Southern China to Beijing since all the rivers within 200 miles of Beijing are either polluted or drying up. I really don't understand how China can export any food. According to the PBS report, China has over 40% of the world's population, and only 18% of their total land mass is capable of food production. I can't believe we would import any food from China based on their health issues and the way they handle their food.

Joe

 

[scott_vt]

Don't get me started on this. I've worked in manufacturing for 25 years. I don't won't to get political.

In the future, when historians look back at the facts and that we let our manufacturing base waste away, I wonder what term they'll coin for this "era". Pun intended... The chinese have us in their financial reigns. Some companies have found that the $$$ saved building their parts abroad are minimized when time lost and descrepant parts are factored in.

Mornin Kyle,
I have been a modelmaker/ toolmaker for better than 35 years, the last 18+ working on mailing machines and paper handling equipment. The company that I work for has sent entire projects over to China. The last mailing machine that we sent over there was so totally screwed up, that we sent a team of engineers over there to try and rectify all the problems with the machine. Numerous trips over there and it was apparent that we had to bring the project back to the USA and reengineer the entire project, actually good news for me, because I got to do some of the mechanical work to fix all the problems. I just cant see how we saved money doing this project in this fashion !

Im really hoping that the Chinese dont figure out how to do what we do for a few more years ! 6 to be exact !

 

[Jagmandave]

I don't believe we are buying whole grains from China, but rather processed powders, additives and so on........and that's where the problems are coming from, in addition to pesticides and other pollutants, they do not have the stringent quality and safety controls in place that the "first world" countries do. So, how do they feed their own people and animals and keep them alive? They also have one of the highest percentages of smokers in their population.......

 

[livincountry]

Do environmentalists ever visit China? If so are they ever heard from again?

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Update. Been doing some more reading. Melamine is made from coal for various industrial uses. A byproduct of making Melamine is big chunks(they use the small powder for industrial use). They sell the chunks to the grain grinder companies. The chemist have found that adding Melamine to the grain artificially raises the numbers when testing for protein levels. It does not add any protein, it just fakes out the test. Come to find out, it apparently is very common in China nowadays. Nobody is sure of the consequences of human consumption. Seems they are almost always willing to cheat their way to gain a buck...what happened to scrupples.

I can just imagine some backroom boiler salesman offering the pet food industry a "great price on some grainmeal with some excellent protein test results". I know the hog industry has been hit. I'm waiting for them to admit its been used to make human food...Just a matter of time.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Now the media is reporting that not just wheat gluten, but enriched flour has been compromised. Also said that someone or more could get in trouble for this.
So far,
1) fish food fed to fish for human consumption
2) Hogs quarantined
3) chickens quarantined

Yet to be determined (by the feds) what ill effects it will have on us Humans.

 

[Tom_H]

PBS has a documentary on China, and it is scary! 70% of their rivers are so polluted that they are not fit for human, or animal consumption, and plants die from the water too. They have such a polluted water issue, that the Chinese are planning a 50 Billion dollar project to bring water from Southern China to Beijing since all the rivers within 200 miles of Beijing are either polluted or drying up. I really don't understand how China can export any food. According to the PBS report, China has over 40% of the world's population, and only 18% of their total land mass is capable of food production. I can't believe we would import any food from China based on their health issues and the way they handle their food. Joe

Do environmentalists ever visit China? If so are they ever heard from again?

Maybe PBS is doing not so bad of a job in its reporting and perhaps is not the biased unrelieble agency so many accuse it of being. Perhaps there actually is some degree of good that the EPA exists and tries to protect us from these same things in our country. Perhaps moderate environmentalists are our friends in that they try to keep us from poisoning ourselves rather than allowing greedy business interests from poisoning the entire natural world, including us.

One of my degrees is in biology. As such, I consider myself an environmentalist, but at the same time, a pragmatist. I actually support ANWR drilling, and drilling off the CA coast, but under constrictions far tighter than have ever before existed. We can never turn the Earth back into the Garden of Eden, but I do think we should do every practical and reasonable thing to protect the air we breath, the water we drink, the soil in which we plant our crops, etc. At this point, I support going to 4th generation nuclear plants instead of fossil fuels, as it is cheaper and has less total impact. A huge electromagnetic rail gun could potentially in the future, launch solid nuclear waste into the sun. The money spent on the current war, may have been enough to have already perfected fusion reactors, which one day may make all the cheap electricity we need (and with virtually no nuclear waste). Enough to use electrolysis on water for making Hydrogen to use in cars. Everything is a trade off, and I am in favor of doing the most practical solutions from all the ones available. My own take on things is that radical environmentalists and anti-environmentalists are so entrenched in their positions, that no sensible progress ever gets made. Whatever happened to plain common sense?

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.

I like that. Very intelligent little saying.