Broken Record
November 19, 2014
by William C Bailey
School of Agriculture Western Illinois University
The Urban Dictionary writes that, when someone is referred to as a ‘broken record’, it means “One who continually repeats the same statement with little variation, if any.” Well, I think I might fit the description since I am going to discuss, again, Chinese food safety. And the problems with Chinese food safety have the potential to become our food problems.
In 2006, I wrote about a curious US Department of Agriculture (USDA) ruling that permitted US chickens to be sent to China where they could be processed, repackaged, returned to the sender and sold as a US product. The ruling stated that China was approved to export processed chicken to the US as long as that chicken was not raised or slaughtered in China. At the time, more knowledgeable market watchers said this was the sound of the first shoe hitting the floor. And that second shoe, permission for Chinese grown and slaughtered chicken to be imported and sold in the US, was going to eventually hit the floor. Just wait.