Can imported food from China be trusted?

[wroberts189]

From what I have read there is hardly any testing of food imports by the FDA.

My wife is Asian .. she went to a Chinese supermarket and brought back all sorts of weird stuff ..gelatin sweets and weird candies. I cannot even describe it.

She also bought dumplings .. they are very good. Chicken and veg (cabbage) or shrimp and veg. Easy to make ..just boil or steam them.

I tell her I do not trust it .. after all the pets died I lost faith in their food. Then there was the chocolate and other stories and recalls. Plus the notorious pollution in China that have caused outright revolts in some provinces. I question everything I eat now and try to buy organic and local as much as possible but its hard.

I see her eating these weird Chinese treats and worry.

[BlooInBloo]

1. (facepalm)

[wroberts189]

19. I will take that as a no. Thx for posting. nt

[tsuki]

2. Trusted? No. nt

[wroberts189]

4. Are you Chinese? nt

[tsuki]

13. No, but I have been reading about the Chinese farmers' protesting the

pollution ruining their crops and poisoning their livestock, and the crack down by the government, plus all the food scandals that they are having over there.

They don't police their food supply, we don't police. No, I do not trust their food.

[wroberts189]

15. Thx.. nt

[lib2DaBone]

3. Poison Dog Food, anti-freeze in toothpase...rotten drywall...

No.. Chinese garbage. NAFTA GAVE US THE SHAFTA. Bring our jobs home.

[wroberts189]

5. So I am not alone in my fears..thx. nt

[Yunomi]

6. Absolutely not.

I gave up my favorite hoisin sauce after the dog food debacle, cause I couldn't read the ingredient label. I do still use rice sticks, bean threads, and Squid Brand fish sauce (I like their Web site- http://www.squidbrand.com/), but those are all from Thailand.

[wroberts189]

12. Thanks for the link I will send it to my wife. nt

[madrchsod]

7. i avoid all chinese food products

i have little confidence that the food is safe.

[wroberts189]

14. Thx for your post. I need to convince my wife to stop eating the stuff.

Then I got to work on her mom ... who is not exactly tuned in to the news stories on this..

[madrchsod]

26. check apple and juice blends.

for some reason we do not grow enough apples for juice

[notesdev]

8. Are you kidding?

At this point I wouldn't trust china from China.

They don't give a shit if they poison their own people, why should they care about us?

[wroberts189]

10. NO I am worried. I have got a wife and mother in law that eat a lot of it. nt

[notesdev]

27. If they're getting them from a Chinatown

then it's probably OK, or at least there's a lot less chance of danger. Chinese people know Chinese goods better than Americans do.

If it's from a business aimed at Americans I think the risk is genuine.

[Warpy]

9. The dumplings are mostly made here

and they're lots of fun to do if you've never done them before.

Homemade is always better than store bought.

I got into Chinese cooking in the early 80s thanks to a bunch of visiting researchers who taught me how to do it. Dumplings are made with everybody sitting around the table and participating.

I've been using Chinese imports for almost 30 years with no ill effects.

This means canned and bottled goods, pickles, pastas, and dried products.

I would wash all fresh produce, though, and I wouldn't eat anything raw because of the way it's grown over there.

Only a couple of really unscrupulous producers have caused problems. The problem over there is that they don't have surprise inspections of food processors. People have to get sick before they realize some bastard is adulterating food.

Then they put the bastard in front of a firing squad.

Unfortunately, surprise inspections work better than deterrence. Eventually they'll figure that part out.

[wroberts189]

11. Thanks.. very informative. nt

[no_hypocrisy]

16. Rice, maybe.

[wroberts189]

17. Thx... she eats tons of it. nt

[wroberts189]

18. What about the Ramen noodles with the "flava" pack.. any thoughts? nt

[no_hypocrisy]

21. That s*** will kill you with the mega-sodium bomb in each package.

Stay away!

:hide:

[wroberts189]

23. Alas your right.. the damn sodium is through the roof on the label.

The one label on all this stuff she bought that is in English.

[Warpy]

28. It's cheap but not very good for you

The noodles are parboiled and then coated with oil. It makes them quick cooking. The flavor package is nearly pure salt. If you like eating salted noodles, eat salted noodles. You'll use less than they do.

The better idea is to toss the flavor pack and use something like Better Than Bouillon for the broth. You'll still get salt, just not so much of it and it will also taste a lot better.

[salvorhardin]

30. That's exactly why I buy the ramen noodle packs

Sometimes I find them on sale 10-for-a-dollar so I'll buy a whole bunch and then when I need to I use the noodles as the base for a super quick hot meal. Of course, I have like 30 of the flavoring packets in my junk drawer. Every now and then I'll use half of one to season another dish.

[wroberts189]

31. Good idea ..thx :) nt

[Why Syzygy]

20. Given a choice,

I would eat something else. I've even stopped eating the occasional frozen dinner because the manufacturers don't know where the ingredients come from and will not guarantee their safety. IWO, if you eat a pot pie, you may be eating ingredients from China.

[wroberts189]

22. The gluten? Its a damn shame we have to question the safety of our foods. thx nt

[Why Syzygy]

24. This is what I was referring to >

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=222&topic_id=60721

[wroberts189]

25. EEEK ...Holy cripes! ... Thx.. I had not seen that before. nt

[Mrs. Overall]

29. A good friend of mine grew up in the Szechuan Province

and has lived here for about twenty five years. She has told me not to buy the majority of food imports from China. Her parents send her things like dried rice noodles and Szechuan peppercorns (local products where her parents live), but even at our upscale grocery store that has a fantastic Asian section, she will not buy most products imported from China. So, I no longer buy Chinese products, in general.

[wroberts189]

32. Thx for the info :) nt