Cracking China (updated)

In an effort to spit shine her tarnished reputation, China has announced plans to introduce a safety recall system in an attempt to weed out unsafe products being manufactured within the country.

You'd think being one of the largest manufacturers of useless crap, they would have already have a recall system in place ;P

In the continuing saga of the pet food recall, a Diamond Pet Foods has recalled their products in BC for fear of melamime contamination.

This is after Canadian Food Inspection Agency found melamime contamined corn gluten from China last week. Of course, they've only started testing for these contaminants since the recall so who really knows what else is lurking behind the Made in China label.


Oh yeah, and all that cheapo farmed fish you've been eating, it could have been gobbling up melamine-contaminated fishmeal it's whole life. No wonder it has the same bland cardboard aftertaste as factory farmed poultry and pork. They've all be eating out of the same contaminated trough.

Agriculture Minister Pat Bell has confirmed that BC fish farms have beeing using the melamine contaminated feed and that consumers have already been eating the fish but , heck, it's no big deal. They're just going to wait until folks show up with unexplainable kidney failure before they consider putting forth a committee to outline the mandate for a study to consider the possibility that these health problems had any link to eating factory farmed chicken, pigs and fish. Until then, it's all fair game.

Gee, thanks Minister Bell, I feel so comforted. Way to look out for the citizens, Pat. Good job! You deserve a big ole corporate slap on the back!

Um...maybe it's time to reconsider this whole factory farm monstrosity and maybe feed animals real animal food instead of pellets of industrial poo. How's that for an idea?

Update: China isn't the only one falsely spike protein content of their animal feed with melamine. A U.S. manufacturer has admitted to intentionally adding melamine to its fish feed. Its fish feed and livestock feed have been recalled. The products also were shown to contain urea formaldehyde resin. This company is a branch of Canadian company, Tremblec, Inc. and its products were used in Uniscope feed.

And how is Canada responding to all these threats to our food security? It has sent off a team to China to boost trade in agricultural products, amongst other areas. China is already Canada's second largest trading partner. Do we really need any more contaminated food?

Not only is China's pet killing kibbles being recall but their toothpaste too. China's been having a rough couple of months. In an effort to prove that they're sincere in their crackdown, China's former chief food and drug regulator was sentenced to death for accepting bribes and approving drugs that we're safe for human use. Wow, they sure do things differently in China. In North America. government officials that tango with pharmecutical companies and get dangerous products approved by federal agencies through the back door end up Secretary of Defense.

It's all the more reason to do what we can to protect our food sovereignty and local food security. Eat local & real food. Support your local farmers who are working hard to provide safe, healthy and yummy food for this community. For a list of farms and farmer's markets, check out the Nanaimo 100 Mile Diet website. For more information about protecting our local meat supply, check out this article.

ETA: After all that soapboxing, I had to have some wild local salmon. With little time to spare of lunch preparations, I found a lone can of local wild salmon in the cupboards.
I'm not the biggest fan of canned salmon after a childhood of eating fishy pink sawdust but I hadn't tried this local brand before. This is an Vancouver Island cannery's smoked sockeye salmon. The salmon was rich and meaty and wasn't waterlogged like many other brands. It had a smoky, deep flavour and it held up well in the salad.


(salad undressed)
Within a few minutes, I whipped up a quick smoked salmon & asian slaw salad with greens from the garden and other veggies from the farmer's market. I made a parsley pesto vinagrette with the pesto from the other night and a splash of locally grown apple cider vinegar. The dressing was just the right amount of tang and green.

Jen

Nanaimo's 100 Mile Diet Challenge