Re: U.S. proposal to allow chicken imports from China raises health concerns

On Fri, 11 May 2007 17:51:39 GMT, jimstevens
<jimstevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[Default] On Fri, 11 May 2007 09:56:38 -0700, NoName
<NoName@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Fri, 11 May 2007 16:49:01 GMT, jimstevens
<jimstevens@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

For a while I knew a great deal about chicken markets. Only bought
about 8 million pounds a year. Here on East coast one of the
pressures is that chickens (and hogs) produce massive amounts of
problems in water. They try to use the stuff for fertilizer on fields
in Maryland, Deleware and Virginia but there is just far too much of
the stuff and it is not commercially viable to get rid of it there.

Clearly, there are many other factors but I would never eat a chicken
from China. I am nervous enough about the drugs and processing here
in the US without all the corruption in China added to the risks.

Then be willing to pay a bit more for organic or "naturally raised"
products. Unless you gorge on meat and poultry or are feeding a
large family the extra per pound is not going to break the bank.

Do you really believe the labels that they are 'organic'. I have my
suspicions. My youngest beats the hell out of me on the organic thing
and even researched where I can go find some coop. She also used the
coop group you mentioned when she was in SD. I went to one with her
while we visited.

I have really grown a lot of veggies and I could never get such
beautiful lettuce or brocolli without using some pesticide. The darn
worms and bugs never backed down! Grown apples, peaches and such and
I have yet to get applese without worms unless I spray when they
flower and on some schedule afterwards. There is an 'organic' outfit
in WV we visited several years ago and them apples were beautiful and
I don't believe they didn't use some kind of spray. It is impossible
from my experience. Onions and many herbs I can grow without spray.
Tomatoes I can do without spray and can watch them real close to keep
off the critters. Leafy vegs and fruit - no.

It is the poulty and meat that concerns me. May not be logical but
there it is. I buy organic produce if it looks good and price
differential is not immense. Henry's Marketplace is not a coop --
it has been acquired by Whole Foods recently. I think you can trust
that chain and Whole Foods as well and Trader Joe's. All have cold
meats and such that are not preserved with sodium nitrate. And the
quality is high. Some organic produce looks pretty scraggly.
Henry's has a high, high turnover in produce as it is noted for its
low prices for that. The produce in the regular supermarkets is old
and kept looking good only by constant misting. The price for organic
is high because it is indeed more difficult to grow. You can really
tell the difference in taste when produce is fresh from the soil, as
in farmer's markets.

But cooking for one and lazy these days about cooking anything that
can't be prepared in 15 minutes, I buy whatever appeals to my appetite
and don't look at the price tags much. Have been sampling some good
imported cheeses from Trader Joe's. There is a taste difference.
TJs has some excellent frozen items as well. I keep a variety of
food in the house so I can "graze" on small meals during the day.
My shopping excursions to Henry's and TJ's are actually fun.

.

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