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Buying only food from China when not produced elsewhere


shootingstar

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-china-food-inspection-items-problems-1.5211623

I do tend to buy if I know (and sometimes there's no label) in this area of priority:  Food produced from CAnada, U.S.  China and Asia tends to be for food not grown/produced much/not at all in North America.

Anyway, I come from a family with a mother who didn't cook much with processed foods from China....all the pickled stuff, etc.  

So this year, China thinks Canadian imports (meat, etc.) is not meeting "their" standard. Same for canola. Yea, sure.  Nothing like trade wars. 

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China is notorious for selling crap.

It's been a big scandal here in the States, and has not a thing to do with the trade war.

Consider yourself lucky, our inspection system isn't good, and I'd bet we don't catch half what your inspectors find.

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4 minutes ago, late said:

China is notorious for selling crap.

It's been a big scandal here in the States, and has not a thing to do with the trade war.

Consider yourself lucky, our inspection system isn't good, and I'd bet we don't catch half what your inspectors find.

What are you posting this on?

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The current US government really woke a lot of people in the food industry up with tariffs.  All governments subsidize and protect their food industry, partly to keep it profitable so people do it, and partly to ensure supply.  The dairy industry is one such market.  Wisconsin for example, has a massive over-supply issue.  Canada has protections in place to limit dairy imports in order to ensure we have our own supply. Wisconsin also produces more product that the entire country of Canada. Neighbours are great when everyone gets along but that can't be relied on, especially in a very polarized world.  The result for Canadians though, is higher costs on products.   I still think US dairy has a place here.  Let them export unrestricted and let the public determine what they buy.  Just black label import products. 

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1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

What are you posting this on?

I take it you don't read the news.

To your point, I buy a fair amount of stuff made in China. Location is usually not an issue for me. I bought a Ti bike frame made by the Chinese navy once. I've got 2 made in the USA, and I think my electric was prob made in Taiwan.

But their problems with food and drugs has been in the news for years. They recently started executing executives responsible for poisoning people.

My speaker wires are a discontinued Nordost that I got through Alibaba. Amazingly good for the money. But my recent preamp purchase is made in the USA, although a lot of the components had to come from somewhere in Asia. My amp was made in NY.

Capitalism has always been about global trade, they just didn't call it that hundreds of years ago in Renaissance Italy. What that was all about was a development in finance that made growth in international trade possible.

Not that this is likely to be an issue with this crowd, but OTC diet drugs are horribly dangerous.

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8 minutes ago, Airehead said:

Give me an example of something you would buy from China that isn't available elsewhere.

Speaker wire is a nightmare, it's highway robbery if you don't know what you're doing. I had wanted Nordost for years, they are quite synergistic with my speakers. I can get something like that here, but it would cost over ten times as much.

The situation, as you well know, is not that you can't usually get something made elsewhere, it's the cost.

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27 minutes ago, Airehead said:

Give me an example of something you would buy from China that isn't available elsewhere.

My guess it would be limited to very specific food items.

Non-food items, like electronics or clothing, are generally sourced from China as well as a variety of other places based on cost, so I'd be hard pressed to come up with complex items - made up of many many smaller pieces - that did not have some Chinese content (but also content from around the world).  Cell phones, laptops, bicycles, and automobiles are all examples. For complex items, it is near impossible to get something without a "made in China" part(s), but also, it is unlikely to poison you (so that's good).

So, "solely" available from China would have to be pretty darn specific and likely limited to something in China that makes no one else do it.  Food is always a VERY regional thing, but not much else jumps to mind. 

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1 hour ago, Airehead said:

Give me an example of something you would buy from China that isn't available elsewhere.

Your phone.

So many of the parts in phones come from factories in China that it became economical for my old company to open factories in Thailand and warehouse there just to avoid multiple trans Pacific shipping.  The company sold lasers to companies that put them into machines that drilled holes in ckt board material used by almost everyone's phone manufacturer.  

A huge portion of the high capacity batteries we use also are made in China.

It's like comparing the volume of bicycles made in China to the number made by specialty houses in the US.  It's a whole bunch vs very little.  You might be able to find a non Chinese source but the price would be much higher and the ability to support the market demand wouldn't exist.

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3 minutes ago, Kzoo said:

This thread was about food and food safety.  Late hijacked this thread to discuss speaker wire (speaker wire?) and you followed him down that rabbit hole. 

No.  I admit that it probably started with me when I inquired what he was posting on while responding to the generality about China producing crap.

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However if you want to confine it to food stuffs the the Hot Wing and Wasabi Oreos that I posted pics of here about a month ago would be sourced from China only at this time.  I didn't say you would want to get these.  It was just an answer to Air's question of what.

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4 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

However if you want to confine it to food stuffs the the Hot Wing and Wasabi Oreos that I posted pics of here about a month ago would be sourced from China only at this time.  I didn't say you would want to get these.  It was just an answer to Air's question of what. 

The Oreos are a good example.  My feeling is that Nabisco (Mondelez) have a pretty strict quality check process for their food - within China and exported from China - so folks would be unlikely to get poisoned from buying REAL Wasabi Oreos.

My worry would be the same sort of worry folks had from buying Chinese sourced pet food, where 99.99% was/is perfectly safe, but at some point, some corrupt person allows poison or other dangerous ingredients into the product.  No regulation there in China, and certainly no regulation/testing here in the US is likely to catch those small percentage events until after pets are dying here. And, by then, what recourse would a pet owner have? A refund and a few hundred dollars to replace their lost "property"?

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My son works in China, ShenZhen to be specific.  He has only suffered food poisoning once in the last 6 months................:nodhead:

Of course as a long term resident he does not follow the western tourist guides to eating, specifically not eating from the street markets, drinking the water or eating raw food like salads.  He prefers to live dangerously.

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6 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

My worry would be the same sort of worry folks had from buying Chinese sourced pet food, where 99.99% was/is perfectly safe,

We lost a dog to kidney failure that we suspect was caused by bad food from China.  At that point there was no way to prove anything and really nothing to be done if proven.  We suspected it as did our vet.  It was not a fun way for him to go.  10 yo JRT who was otherwise very healthy and should of had several more years to go.

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5 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

My son works in China, ShenZhen to be specific.  He has only suffered food poisoning once in the last 6 months................:nodhead:

Of course as a long term resident he does not follow the western tourist guides to eating, specifically not eating from the street markets, drinking the water or eating raw food like salads.  He prefers to live dangerously.

I was gonna ask about street food.  It is eaten by literally BILLIONS of Asians, but some of the stuff you see here in the US shows very questionable food prep.  Again, seems like a 99.99+% "safe" with a rare but possible "really bad" option.  Does he use some sort of inside knowledge to avoid getting sick?

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3 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I was gonna ask about street food.  It is eaten by literally BILLIONS of Asians, but some of the stuff you see here in the US shows very questionable food prep.  Again, seems like a 99.99+% "safe" with a rare but possible "really bad" option.  Does he use some sort of inside knowledge to avoid getting sick?

No.  Like the water in Mexico, eventually you get used to it. Or you die.

He has lived and worked on the Pacific rim for many years and perhaps he has developed a partial immunity to most of the food bugs.  We visited when he was teaching in Japan and we visited again when he was living in Malaysia.  I ate street food from many sources without getting sick.  His family routinely purchased their foodstuffs from a wet market that would probably horrify most westerners if they thought of it as the supermarket.

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41 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

My son works in China, ShenZhen to be specific.  He has only suffered food poisoning once in the last 6 months................:nodhead:

Of course as a long term resident he does not follow the western tourist guides to eating, specifically not eating from the street markets, drinking the water or eating raw food like salads.  He prefers to live dangerously.

Drinking the water is hideously dangerous. He's got to be using a filter.

 

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9 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

Nope.  He's part of the billions that live in Asia now.

Filters are so common in China that they are a big chunk of Brita buyers here in America.

At least that's what I was told.

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A bit of research on this reveals that the loudest noise about using filters in China is coming from the manufacturers and sellers of water filters.

 

However, municipal water supplies have been under a much stricter set of rules these past few years up to and including laying new piping systems wherever the old systems are suspect.

 

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6 hours ago, maddmaxx said:

This is new in scale only.  There have been protected foods for years.  American rice is not welcome in Japan.  Standards you know.  It's really protectionism however.

Some is protectionism, some is the fact that our standards are much lower than in other nations for certain foods and vice-versa. For example, almost all of our chickens are dipped in bleach after they're killed: that keeps them out of most countries.  America's Test Kitchen did tests on Extra Virgin Olive Oil and found that EVERY American brand they tested was a fraud: either a blend of oils or the first squeezings only.  EVERY European brand passed as legitimate EVOO.

In America, a chicken can be sold as "free range" if it is allowed to be outside a crowded chicken house for 15 minutes per day in a crowded, chicken-wire caged area.

Other countries have various categories where you can't trust their product descriptions either.

 

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11 hours ago, Airehead said:

Give me an example of something you would buy from China that isn't available elsewhere.

There are all sorts of noodles, processed jarred foods (sauces, etc.) that not all North American manufacturers make. Here are some veggies which can be obtained with some challenges in North America but maybe shipped from Asia:  fuzzy melon, bitter melon, dragon fruit, rambutans, certain small melons, dried mushrooms, various seaweed.

I was a little chuffed to see snow peas....from China when they have been grown in Canada. I remember picking them from pick your own farm just north of Toronto.  So I don't buy snow peas.  I'm just giving an example where I just prefer as far as I am informed according to food labels to buy fresh produce from North America if I can. 

Sure China is playing hardball this year, on bulk trade for food in my opinion just to punish CAnada ...for our canola, pork imports which they have been CAnada's major customer.

12 hours ago, wilbur said:

The current US government really woke a lot of people in the food industry up with tariffs.  All governments subsidize and protect their food industry, partly to keep it profitable so people do it, and partly to ensure supply.  The dairy industry is one such market.  Wisconsin for example, has a massive over-supply issue.  Canada has protections in place to limit dairy imports in order to ensure we have our own supply. Wisconsin also produces more product that the entire country of Canada. Neighbours are great when everyone gets along but that can't be relied on, especially in a very polarized world.  The result for Canadians though, is higher costs on products.   I still think US dairy has a place here.  Let them export unrestricted and let the public determine what they buy.  Just black label import products. 

Wilbur the American skim milk is quite different from CAnadian...it does have a bluish tinge that is noticeable compared to Canadian skim milk. I purchase and buy this milk type weekly from Canadian dairy.  I also consume skim milk when I travel in U.S. 

 

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10 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Wilbur the American skim milk is quite different from CAnadian...it does have a bluish tinge that is noticeable compared to Canadian skim milk. I purchase and buy this milk type weekly from Canadian dairy.  I also consume skim milk when I travel in U.S. 

 

I wasn't addressing the quality of product.  Americans may find ours odd too? I only addressed the trade aspect.  Maybe they have blue cows! :) 

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12 hours ago, wilbur said:

The current US government really woke a lot of people in the food industry up with tariffs.  All governments subsidize and protect their food industry, partly to keep it profitable so people do it, and partly to ensure supply.  The dairy industry is one such market.  Wisconsin for example, has a massive over-supply issue.  Canada has protections in place to limit dairy imports in order to ensure we have our own supply. Wisconsin also produces more product that the entire country of Canada. Neighbours are great when everyone gets along but that can't be relied on, especially in a very polarized world.  The result for Canadians though, is higher costs on products.   I still think US dairy has a place here.  Let them export unrestricted and let the public determine what they buy.  Just black label import products. 

California is the largest dairy producing state in the U.S.

I had some of the best chocolate milk ever in Canada (Natrel maybe). And goat milk gelato and cheese too. Awesome blueberries that were super cheap, cherries too. Great wine, beer, and cider. meat was a little harder to figure out because I was unfamiliar and couldn't find the origin if it was labeled.

I found it odd that most products in Canada were measured in grams, but produce was sold by the pound. I guess we do the same here with beer sold in 12 oz cans and wine in 750 ml bottles. Soda is often sold in 2L bottles and 12 oz cans. Kind of strange I guess.

 

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Example how I buy fresh Asian (or similar) ingredients:

In big North American cities where there has been sizable Asian population....there are Asian fresh noodles..usually in the refrigerated section. Not necessarily frozen. These are not dried noodles. Look at the label and expiry date.  It may be a firm in your province/state/city.  Support that business. Why buy "fresh" noodles from Japan or China with enough preservatives?  So in Calgary there are at least 3 local firms that produce Asian fresh noodles....because the pkging is bilingual. with clear location of the producer.

Same for tofu....I don't care what people think here about tofu. Buy local as far as you can. I buy a Vancouver firm because there is a major producer (or at least 2 large producers) not far from older Chinatown (there are several Chinatowns in Metro Vancouver) that supplies a huge hunk of B.C. and Alberta. 

Some of these firms (started up by immigrants) are highly motivated to stay in business locally by conforming to health and safety law.

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7 hours ago, petitepedal said:

We have a large Hmong population and some of those melons and such are found in the farmers markets here..One in St.Paul is very Asian...I wish I knew what to make with some of the funky looking fruits and veggies that they produce.

Keep in mind, even for myself raised on 80% Chinese diet in Canada, I'm not familiar with some of the fresh Asian greens. (ie. maybe 15% of certain types I'm not familiar). But I know most likely if I stir fry it lightly or have it in a consommé soup, it tastes just fine/good.

But then I grew up, not knowing the English name or Chinese name of certain foods.  I just ate it. :)  We trusted our mother to feed us safely and well. 

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