{"id":22985,"date":"2014-03-05T14:03:30","date_gmt":"2014-03-05T14:03:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecowatch.com\/?p=324322"},"modified":"2014-03-05T14:03:30","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T14:03:30","slug":"usda-to-allow-chickens-from-u-s-to-be-shipped-to-china-for-processing-and-back-to-u-s-for-consumption-just-like-seafood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leedpoints.com\/green-building-blog\/usda-to-allow-chickens-from-u-s-to-be-shipped-to-china-for-processing-and-back-to-u-s-for-consumption-just-like-seafood\/","title":{"rendered":"USDA to Allow Chickens From U.S. to Be Shipped to China for Processing and Back to U.S. for Consumption, Just Like Seafood"},"content":{"rendered":null,"protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"chinachicken\"<\/p>\n

Scores of Americans are in an uproar since Food Safety News<\/a> revealed the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will soon allow U.S. chickens to be sent to China for processing<\/a> before being shipped back to the states for human consumption.<\/p>\n[caption id=\"attachment_324436\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"500\"]\"chinachicken\"<\/a> Bureau of Labor Statistics data estimates that American poultry processors are paid roughly $11 per hour on average. In China, reports have circulated that the country’s chicken workers can earn significantly less—$1 to 2 per hour.[\/caption]\n

This arrangement is especially disturbing given China’s subpar food safety record and the fact that there are no plans to station on-site USDA<\/a> inspectors at Chinese plants. Also, American consumers won’t know which brands of chicken are processed in China because there’s no requirement to label it as such.<\/p>\n

To ease concerns, lobbyists and chicken industry proponents argue no U.S. company will ever ship chicken to China for processing because it wouldn’t work economically.<\/p>\n

“Economically, it doesn’t make much sense,” said Tom Super, spokesman for the National Chicken Council, in a recent interview with the Houston Chronicle<\/a>. “Think about it: A Chinese company would have to purchase frozen chicken in the U.S., pay to ship it 7,000 miles, unload it, transport it to a processing plant, unpack it, cut it up, process\/cook it, freeze it, repack it, transport it back to a port, then ship it another 7,000 miles. I don’t know how anyone could make a profit doing that.”<\/p>\n

Yet, a similar process is already being used for U.S. seafood.<\/p>\n

According to the Seattle Times<\/a>, domestically caught Pacific salmon and Dungeness crab are being processed in China and shipped back to the U.S. because of significant cost savings.<\/p>\n

“There are 36 pin bones in a salmon and the best way to remove them is by hand,” said Charles Bundrant, founder of Trident, which ships about 30 million pounds of its 1.2 billion-pound annual harvest to China for processing. “Something that would cost us $1 per pound labor here, they get it done for 20 cents in China.”<\/p>\n

Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a> data estimates that American poultry processors are paid roughly $11 per hour on average. In China, reports have circulated that the country’s chicken workers can earn significantly less—$1 to 2 per hour—which casts doubt on Super’s economic feasibility assessment. <\/p>\n

China’s food safety system, which is said to be decades behind America’s, is highly questionable given some of the more recent food safety scandals that have surfaced in the country:<\/p>\n