Apparently, the poultry which has been raised and slaughtered in the United States are exported to China for further processing and are then again brought back to the U.S. and offered to be purchased. And all this has been permitted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture not long ago.

Furthermore, before its shipment to the U.S., this meat will not be inspected by U.S. inspectors, and its country of origin will be required to be labeled on it.

Hence, this is a serious concern of food experts who are afraid that this chicken meat has poor quality as it has been processed in a country infamous due to food-borne diseases and avian influenza.

During his interview with the Houston Chronicle, the spokesman for the National Chicken Council commented:

“Economically, it doesn’t make much sense. 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.”

Moreover, a rather disturbing difference has been also pointed out by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which stated that the approximately, American chicken workers earn $11 per hour, while Chinese chicken processors are paid less than $1 to 2 per hour.

Additionally, the same process is also applied in the case of U.S. seafood.  For example, as stated by the Settle Times, in order to increase the financial profits and save on costs, domestically caught Pacific salmon and Dungeness crab are actually processed in China and again returned to the U.S.

Sources:
www.realfarmacy.com
livingtraditionally.com
ecowatch.com