The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has just given the green light to a number of Chinese state-owned companies to begin exporting processed chicken products to America. While this ostensibly seems like a good deal for the American people, the reality is that the development represents yet another backward step for the global economy.
An FSIS memo, quietly published late last week, gives the go-ahead to China for it to begin shipping processed chicken meat – which has already been treated and cooked before packaging – to U.S.-based distribution centers. More likely than not, these Chinese firms will serve as contractors for major chicken sellers in the United States because it will help them reduce operational costs stateside.
There are two troubling aspects of this bargain. First, it puts American chicken breeders at risk of seeing their business decline, due to the simple fact that it may become more affordable to rely on a Chinese processing plant than an American farmer. While this outcome is not guaranteed, the natural laws of supply and demand could push the favor to foreign investors instead of American citizens.
The other side of the equation is the obvious health risks. China has an appalling record in terms of consumer health, in particular its chicken industry. Earlier this year, a group of Chinese businessmen were sentenced to jail time for allegedly trying to pass of 40-year-old chickens as fresh products. The FSIS recently began a policy allowing chicken processing companies to provide their own health oversight, rather than a federal worker, meaning that food-borne illnesses could more easily enter the U.S. food supply.
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