Eight million acres of China’s farmland too polluted to farm. And that’s what the notoriously dishonest Chinese government admits. The real problem is probably worse. Bottom line: all farm products from China are suspect.
This post was last modified on January 26, 2021
View Comments (31)
Never....ever...eat 'farm raised' fish or shrimp.
Not a good blanket rule.
Catfish, for one, are bottom feeders. The bottom is where all the heavy stuff ends up, as in dead stuff (what they eat) along with heavy metals and all sorts of other pollution. In a farm environment, the water is kept clean. In "natural" environments, there is no or less control over what is in the water. I will only eat farm-raised catfsh.
So you're comfortable with the catfish farming practice of building chicken coops over their ponds so the chicken poop falls directly into the water as feed for the catfish, which frequently as a result of all the poop in the water consuming all the oxygen must come to the surface to gulp oxygen? The Chinese are especially fond of that practice but they do it here, too.
In the US, farmers used to keep hogs in the feedlots when finishing out cattle with corn in order to recover the undigested corn. It works quite well. Actual food production can be pretty gross. Food doesn't originate on a styrofoam slab in a grocery.
Here's what I know: hogs in the wild don't have a diet of cow shit and catfish in the wild don't have a diet of chicken shit. Nor do either of them get a steady diet of antibiotics to counter the disease-encouraging crowded conditions their cousins experience down on the farm. Do I need to remind you about the poop foam?
https://www.ihatethemedia.com/poop-foam-causing-explosions-on-hog-farms
Actually, that's not exactly correct. You need to read where they were raised, if it's in the US, it's not a problem, China and Indonesia are the problem areas.
You're probably right but can you trust the labels? I've read stories about the large percentage of supermarket labels for fish that are fraudulent. For example, if you raise catfish on chemical fillers in a Chinese cesspool, ship them to Vietnam for freezing, then process and package them in California, they would label that "farm-raised U.S. catfish" because by golly they were processed and packaged in the U.S., and unless a consumer takes the time to notice the awkward syntax and realize that's not the same thing as "farm-raised IN the U.S." ...
The most common example is "Atlantic salmon" which sounds like a wild fish caught in the Atlantic Ocean but actually almost 100% of the time refers to the SPECIES of Atlantic salmon, raised on a farm somewhere - maybe a good farm but maybe not. Sockeye salmon from Alaska is the only safe choice, and the best way to tell the label is honest is by looking at the fish - sockeye salmon should be bright red. And guess what: the red stuff in the sockeye is the healthy part anyway.
Well, the people who are dropping dead over there should know that we here in the USA are feeling really good about ourselves knowing we are saving the planet with all those solar cells made with those heavy metals in China.
Someone should alert Thomas Freidman about this story before he writes his next column about how efficient Chinese tyranny is.
Keep in mind that China produces most of the Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) used in vitamins and food manufactured here in this country. There are alot of hidden ingredients from China used by manufacturers here and everywhere else. They don't give a damn if they poison their own people, so everybody everywhere else should be very worried.
Ask JP about catfish. On second thought, maybe you'd better not. ;)
I have a sister-in-law with a restaurant in Tennessee. She says her customers love her great big beautiful catfish fillets. I asked here where she gets them. She answered, "From my food supplier." That tells me they come from Asia because the Asians are infamous for feeding their farm fish all kinds of nasty indigestible crap to make them bulk up.
If you eat catfish, then you're already eating garbage. It's what they do. My best bait for them is livers that are rotten, and the best chum for them is rotten grain. One step on the evolutionary rung up from politicians, though.
Nobody eats politicians except Monica Lewinsky.
Nice. Hey JP, this didn't take long at all
http://spectator.org/blog/57345/de-blasios-horse-drawn-carriage-ban-it-really-about-campaign-cash
Yeah, I noticed that. Scratch a leftie reveal a crook.
Much of the commercially available catfish is farmed, with (theoretically) no garbage used. But you are correct that they are literally bottom feeders, and if you fish for them in the wild, you can find some very scary things in their guts! Shrimp, on the other hand, are mostly imported from Asia, where they are farmed, but in very poor conditions. I can get gulf shrimp that are ok, but be sure you know where yours are from, since shrimp are "cleaners" also. Remeber the shrimp in the Nemo movie? He cleaned the new fish in the tank, cleaned the walls of mmold etc.
Don't eat the shrimp!
and tilapia.
Raise your own tilapia. Look into Aquaponics.
I am thinking that I really need to get serious about raising my own food, I will have to see if I can find like minded people that have the land and the expertise and maybe get a co-op going... We really need to be prepared... I know that is fun to make fun of China, but in all reality... how can we know that this won't happen here? Or something disastrous can happen...
Look up Aquaponics, no soil, self sustaining system, and very little water consumption.
I am going to have to get serious about getting co-op together of some kind. I have it in my plans just been occupied...
Until you can grow your own, try to deal with local farmers, where you can get to know the farmer, see how the food/livestock is raised, etc. There are several around San Antonio, and I am sure there are some near Houston.
Yeah... actually I've found several nice farmer markets and stuff like that. I've thought many times to just do that whole live on the land thing farmer Kim lol
Muvh of the soil hee is just as polluted as that n China. Be sure to test anywhere you plan to grow food for human consumption!
I can just see that. In the back of my RV.
Don't forget all the glow-in-the dark Pacific Ocean species that will soon be showing up courtesy of the Japanese fiasco at Fukashima. I think I'm getting the Geiger Counter app for my iPhone so I can check out the food before I eat.
They glow real long time
Wow....
Oncologists rejoice- for your cash cows have finally begun to come home! We now have a cheap and abundant food source for the serial welfare recipients- if we can convince the Chicoms to farm the toxic land anyway!!