Take Back Your Table

The whole revelation of how many of our food products come from China has been incredibly eye-opening in our household. When the tainted dog food was announced we knew it was only the tip of the iceberg, but we had no idea how big this iceberg was. Now we know a toddler that is recovering from a life-threatening case of Salmonella from Veggie Booty. Here are a few facts to mull over about food imports, and notice too that some of your favorite "hippie food companies" are in fact partially owned by organizations such a Phillip Morris, Heinz, and General Mills.

1. The US has over 400 points of entry for food imports and only 600-something inspectors
2. Only 1% of food imports are inspected, and this does not include food ingredients - only the final products
3. When you see the words "natural food flavorings" in an ingredient list, you can be almost sure it includes animal products
4. There are hundreds of food import refusals in the US every month (only 1% are even inspected!)
5. China has made a deliberate effort to capture the food manufacturing market by under cutting prices by 1000s of % - thereby forcing the closure of many US manufacturing facilities. For example, ascorbic acid (vitamin C - a common food preservative) cost $15 a kilogram ten years ago. Today the Chinese produce 80% of the world's supply at a mere $3.50 a kilogram.
6. Import refusals from China include vitamins and supplements and herbal teas

Here is an except from one of the NPR articles in the below links:

"In the past year, the FDA rejected more than twice as many food shipments from China as from all other countries combined.
The rejected shipments make an unappetizing list. Inspectors commonly block Chinese food imports because they're "filthy." That's the official term.
"They might smell decomposition. They might see gross contamination of the food. 'Filthy' is a broad term for a product that is not fit for human consumption," Hubbard says.
Another rejection code is "vet-drug-res." That means the food product, usually things like fish, seafood and eels, contains residues of veterinary drugs, such as antibiotics and antifungals."


Here are some links you may be interested in if you would like to learn more about what's on our grocery store shelves - even the shelves of your favorite co-op:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11478155

http://www.vegetarian-restaurants.net/OtherInfo/Vegetarian-Food-Alert-Newsletter.htm

http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/

http://www.ciw-online.org/tools.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/ca_fries.html

http://www.coopamerica.org/programs/rs/profile.cfm?id=232

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11656278

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10410111


What is becoming increasingly clear is that we cannot rely on industry or government to protect our health in general, and specifically in regards to packaged consumer goods. It's time for us to take back our dinner tables and make an effort to reclaim our local economies, our natural environments, and most of all, our health.