Chicken nuggets to be processed in China

[Pocatello]

Don't eat chicken nuggets. Many American kids love these pieces of crap, which is a mystery to me.

 

[Murloc]

Sad that it is cheaper to send food across the pacific twice than it is to process here in the states.

...no USDA inspectors will be present in the Chinese processing plants (despite the fact that China has never before been allowed to export chicken to the U.S.), thus offering consumers no guarantees where the processed chickens were in fact slaughtered. Even worse, because the birds will be processed, the USDA will not require point-of-origin labeling (under USDA rules, foods that have been cooked aren't subject to point-of-origin labeling). In other words: Consumers will have no way to tell if those chicken nuggets in the supermarket freezer were processed in the U.S. or in China.

and this is where european nanny policies prove better than american laissez-faire.

I think anyone can do without chicken nuggets anyway, it's fried stuff and isn't even that good.

 

[BladeVenom]

Watch out for other items that are "Made in China" currently such as spices (Tones brand). I will not buy any medicine, food or related items, or healthcare items from China. They have so many issues with quality control such as tainted milk, faked rice, dirty meat (then being cleaned with chemicals), explosive watermelons, and so on.

Google "china polllution pictures" and see for yourselves.

Lets not forget poisoned pet food, or lead toys.

 

[techs]

Thinking about it I don't understand. In what state are the chickens being shipped? Have they been killed, plucked and deboned? Or is the deboning going to happen in China?

It seems if they were just shipping the boneless chicken then there is minimal labor involved in making nuggets. Just put it in a machine that chops it and mixes it with ingredients and shapes it. Then a coating of breading and deep frying. All that is pretty much without human labor.

I can understand this if they have to manually debone the chicken, but I figure the breasts are a premium product and not used in the nuggets. So, are they going to sell the breasts in China or ship the raw breasts back to the US?

Are ingredients like cooking oil and breading cheaper in China?

I really wish the story gave more info.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Chicken Nuggets, not McNuggets. McDonalds wasn't even mentioned in the article.

This. Plus its processed chicken in general.

 

[T9D]

mmm I love chinese food.

 

[techs]

How long until we see Chinese orphans disappearing?

 

[JEDI]

Sucks that McDonalds is doing this.

careful, Nintendesert will go Nazi on u. seems like he owns a lot of McD stock

 

[CountZero]

I don't like it, but what can we do about it ultimately? Nobody seems to want protectionist trade policies, and we all know that businesses aren't going to voluntarily do something one way when a cheaper way exists. So what then? Sit around and be pissed off at corporations for not doing the right thing out of the kindness of their hearts? That's ridiculous. Corporations aren't evil, but they don't have hearts either. They will simply follow the path to maximum profit in the same way that water will run down a hill.

Required place of origin labeling for all foodstuffs prepared, processed or whatever?

I don't need corps to do things out of the kindness of their heart but I can't be expected to speak to them in the only language they know, money, if I can't get all the information I need.

Now maybe some company decides to label their nuggets are from the US but without clear rules I have no idea what that means. Maybe it is carefully worded such that a consumer might believe it was processed in the US but really it is a US chicken processed in China.

A turning point in the way companies treat customers is when they turned away from competing with the best product and turn towards competing on price while hiding how they got there.

 

[Svnla]

Are ingredients like cooking oil and breading cheaper in China?

Cheap cooking oil you asked?

Yes, very cheap because it is (gasping) = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/20/gutter-oil-china-sounds-a_n_652398.html

BEIJING — Chinese call it "gutter oil" – a foul slop fished up from sewage drains or collected at restaurant back doors – and it's being used widely in the country's eateries.

 

[zerocool84]

Are people saying Chicken Nuggets of any kind are not good? Well then you must have had crappy ones because I've had very good ones from many different places. Just because it's a chicken nugget doesn't mean it's a Chicken McNugget.

 

[Engineer]

I really wish the story gave more info.

from what I read, the chickens will 'initially' be shipped from here and then from other countries later. Ah hell, fuck the farmers. They don't need jobs either.

 

[Tommy2000GT]

It's cheaper because the US send 100% chicken to China. And China sends 10% chicken back with 90% fillers.

 

[Pulsar]

So we're sending our chickens to the place that basically invented the Bird Flu so they can package up some nuggets and send them back uncooked?

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

 

[Juddog]

Doesn't affect me directly since I do not eat at MCD, but it is still mind boggling... And very very sad both for food safety concerns and jobs lost. Who would have thought that this is more economical than process chicken in the US? WTF?

^^ My thoughts exactly. Someone was seriously brain dead when they thought this would be a good idea.

Ever since the tainted baby milk scandal and the tainted pet food scandal, I am extremely cautious about putting any chinese made food items into my body. They just don't have the quality control that US produced food has. Maybe it's the fact that my cat died from tainted chinese cat food, but I am extremely wary to double check any kind of food that I put into my body nowadays.

 

[Engineer]

So we're sending our chickens to the place that basically invented the Bird Flu so they can package up some nuggets and send them back uncooked?

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

Doesn't matter as long as short term profits go up.

 

[zephyrprime]

Meanwhile, Government is forcing auto makers to some BS MPG standards while 9 Cargo ships create more pollution than all the worlds cars.

And people actually buy the whole "green" movement crap.

9 cargo ships create more pollution than all the world's cars? I don't believe that. If that were true, their fuel costs would be sky high since the only way to create so much pollution is to burn a lot of oil. The whole reason it is cost effective to send chicken back and forth across the pacific is because cargo ships are so super efficient due to being able to float.

 

[PowerYoga]

Don't eat any "processed" chicken.

Don't give a shit.

Problem not found.

 

[Jeff7]

This is what happens when fast-food workers want 15 bucks an hour.

I still don't understand why that kind of job hasn't been automated yet.

They've already simplified the process to the point that nearly anyone can handle it...ripe for automating.
Get some industrial robots in there and have them make the common items.
Hell, I'd go get a burger just to watch them assemble it.

The economy will adapt.

How soon will this go into effect? My family and I will stop eating any sort of chicken nuggets. Maybe Chick-fil-a or Zaxby's will advertise they use US processed chicken so people like me can vote with our wallet. I'm willing to pay extra to eat US processed food. I will not eat knowingly eat any food from China. One of the reason I shop at Trader Joe's is because they don't carry any food products from China.

More likely, they'll advertise "US-grown chickens," but still have them processed in China. Or "US-owned chickens." Ding! It's legal!

Watch out for other items that are "Made in China" currently such as spices (Tones brand). I will not buy any medicine, food or related items, or healthcare items from China. They have so many issues with quality control such as tainted milk, faked rice, dirty meat (then being cleaned with chemicals), explosive watermelons, and so on.

Google "china polllution pictures" and see for yourselves.

But thank god they don't have to deal with oppressive, business-killing government regulations over there. That must be paradise living over there.

*sniff*
Mmm, the Hong Kong air smells delightfully gooey today.

Not just chicken nugget

USDA...ended a ban on Chinese chicken imports by approving four Chinese poultry processors to ship processed ("heat-treated/cooked") chicken to the U.S.

That could be ANY processed chicken products.


And maybe pork:
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/29/business/la-fi-smithfield-china-20130530


Don't blame the low wage workers. Blame the lawmakers, politicians, and rich CEOs.

And I'm sure that's where the savings will go. Not to pay the remaining US-based workers more, not to ensure good working conditions for the cheap Chinese laborers, and not to bring lower prices.

Explosive watermelons?

The advertising thing was "Bursting with flavor!" It got passed through Google Translate, and someone mistook it to be a work instruction.

BINGO. Nothing more but killing out middle class jobs and now starting on the lower class jobs too. As I said in the P&N thread, one of these days the corporations are going to wake up and ask where the consumers went. The government isn't smart enough to figure out where 47% of the taxpayers went yet.

(hint: their wages dropped like a rock and fell below the taxation line because of good paying jobs being set out of this country).

But the people who made these decisions won't care. They don't need to. They're already exceedingly wealthy, and may well have contracts which guarantee them a good payday even if their company is driven into the ground.

I will lobby Rand Paul and my other reps to stop this or to at least force a Point of Origin to be placed on EVERYTHING imported into this country, including food.

The legislation would have to be worded carefully.
Point of Origin of the chickens: USA. (Then shipped to China, then back to the US.)
Ok, fine, fine...
Point of Origin: California. (The import agent's company.)

And be sure to include sufficient free speech ($$$) with any letters to ensure that your voice matters.

 

[Red Squirrel]

If I was in charge it would be the law that ALL resources must be processed locally. AT very least, in the same state/province. The same crap goes on here in Canada. Alberta has lot of oil, yet it gets sent to the states to be processed and we buy it back at 2x the price Americans pay. It's pure bullshit. Processing resources locally also creates jobs. And in the case of food, ensures that it's actually safe to eat.

 

[dud]

This thread is full of no surprises.

Processed food imported from China ... no surprise.

Chickens with bird flu being imported from Chine ... no surprise.

Americans eating processed food from China because it is cheap ... no surprise.


This thread is full of fail because everyone knows that Americans ill eat just about anything if it is cheap.

 

[ElFenix]

9 cargo ships create more pollution than all the world's cars? I don't believe that. If that were true, their fuel costs would be sky high since the only way to create so much pollution is to burn a lot of oil. The whole reason it is cost effective to send chicken back and forth across the pacific is because cargo ships are so super efficient due to being able to float.

they burn the lowest grade available. it's barely above road asphalt.

so, not 9, but not more than a couple dozen.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/apr/09/shipping-pollution

 

[dud]

"Even worse, because the birds will be processed, the USDA will not require point-of-origin labeling (under USDA rules, foods that have been cooked aren't subject to point-of-origin labeling). In other words: Consumers will have no way to tell if those chicken nuggets in the supermarket freezer were processed in the U.S. or in China."


If true the average American will have no idea if their nugget/McNugget came from China or not.

Darwinism?

 

[techs]

It is becoming nearly economically impossible for many Americans to avoid Chinese made food products.

People can say just don't eat any of this or that, but the Chinese food products are everywhere and in very many things.

Going back to honey:
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/#.Uie04J3D9fM

Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey

Ultra-filtering Removes Pollen, Hides Honey Origins

More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn’t exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.

The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled “honey.”

The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world’s food safety agencies.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that’s been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn’t honey. However, the FDA isn’t checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.

Food Safety News decided to test honey sold in various outlets after its earlier investigation found U.S. groceries flooded with Indian honey banned in Europe as unsafe because of contamination with antibiotics, heavy metal and a total lack of pollen which prevented tracking its origin.

Food Safety News purchased more than 60 jars, jugs and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

The contents were analyzed for pollen by Vaughn Bryant, a professor at Texas A&M University and one of the nation’s premier melissopalynologists, or investigators of pollen in honey.

Bryant, who is director of the Palynology Research Laboratory, found that among the containers of honey provided by Food Safety News:

•76 percent of samples bought at groceries had all the pollen removed, These were stores like TOP Food, Safeway, Giant Eagle, QFC, Kroger, Metro Market, Harris Teeter, A&P, Stop & Shop and King Soopers.

•100 percent of the honey sampled from drugstores like Walgreens, Rite-Aid and CVS Pharmacy had no pollen.

•77 percent of the honey sampled from big box stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Target and H-E-B had the pollen filtered out.

•100 percent of the honey packaged in the small individual service portions from Smucker, McDonald’s and KFC had the pollen removed.

 

[Peter Nixeus]

um.. why ship chickens to china?!
there are no chickens in china for McD to buy??

What is really happening is the US Poultry companies are shipping "chicken legs" to China. There is a high demand in China for USA's chicken feet for "Dim Sum's phoenix feet" totaling several hundred million dollars a year in American chicken feet exports. Chinese eat other Chicken parts Americans normally dont find value or eat.

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2012/12/chicken_feet_to_china_americas.html


http://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...ss-of-exporting-chicken-feet-to-china/250242/

Chicken feet exports to China, which at one point brought in $278 million for the United States, has become a rather facetious-sounding sparring ground for very serious trade conflicts between the two countries. Yes, chicken feet in China -- a poultry appendage that has seemingly no value here in the U.S. but is in demand in China... From personal experience, you can find those poultry extremities in dim sum restaurants where they're deep-fried to the color of burnt caramel and drenched in a sweet-spicy-salty sauce. You'll also find lots of people making faces when presented with a plateful of those claws. Mostly unwanted in the U.S., the export of our excess chicken feet (377,805 metric tons) to China is a business which garnered nearly $278 million in 2009. But since then, it's been a different story.

After processing the chicken feet/parts, whatever meat or parts they don't need, the Chinese are just making them into chicken nuggets and shipping them back. D:

I've been trying to start a chicken feet export business as well...