Salmonella in Veggie Booty Snacks Comes From Chinese Seasonings. China Attacks Media Hype. Senator Calls for Inspections Paid for By Those Who Send Goods to the US

According to an AP report at ABC "Salmonella Found in Snacks' Seasoning " 

A seasoning made with imported Chinese ingredients used on recalled snack foods was contaminated with salmonella, a company official said Tuesday. The snack foods sickened dozens of people.

The seasoning, used on both Super Veggie Tings Crunchy Corn Sticks and Veggie Booty snack foods, tested positive for the bacteria, said Robert Ehrlich, president and chief executive of Robert's American Gourmet Inc. The "veggie" seasoning's ingredients came primarily from China, the company said.

Read rest of report at source. 

China meanwhile says that the"media" is hyping Chinese food problems as well reported by AP writer Anita Chang in "China: Media is hyping safety issues ":

BEIJING - China warned the media Tuesday against exaggerating its food safety problems and stirring consumer panic, even as officials announced dozens of snacks for children had failed standards and more fake blood protein was found in hospitals.

China's dismal product safety record — both within and outside its borders — has increasingly come under the spotlight as its goods make their way through global markets. Major buyers such as the United States, Japan, and the European Union have pushed Beijing to improve inspections.

"I think it would be better if the media would stop playing up this issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular news briefing. He warned the widespread media coverage would "lead to panic among consumers."

The spokesman then went on to assure us that everything was being taken care of.  Sure buddy.

The problem has panicked US Treasury Secretary.

Close Ties with the country that are making Bushco loving fat cats ever fatter by letting them get cruddy goods and dangerous foods to us by buying cheaply and selling to us for nearly the same price as before. 

What is your family's food safety worth compared to that????

So Paulson has even gotten off his comfortable tush to make sure we know (despite all the facts shown in highly credible reporting and statements from our own  Congressionals) that the US FDA is looking out for us and keeping us safe.  If we don't buy their food for our families then the ever richer Chinese people won't buy the crap our fat cats send to their country.

If this happens both nations may choose to overhaul their governments for incompetency and  corruption the treasury secretary did not say, but becomes my conclusion.

(Economic downturns are a known stimulus in the US for party change at the top ie the presidency..)  Paulson warns that problems with China could hurt the economy as Chinese consumers might spend less on the junk we send them.  (Okay you know he didn't say "junk".)

He also didn't mention if we stop making China rich they might do something besides complain about their corrupt and undemocratic government.  

But most importantly American fat cats hold the cards on importing cheap goods to be sold at high prices and they would make less money.   That would mean that though American and neighboring nations might actually create jobs for their people improving the lot of the working class, the overall average that has been improving because they are getting richer, would go down, making the Bush administration look bad.

Interesting that they had to drag out the Treasury Secretary to reassure us on Chinese food goods.  Even the loyal toadies at the FDA couldn't bring themselves to do it?

Sorry to my rss readers.  I haven't been able to find a link to the source on the discussion about inspections of all imports and who pays yet, so I removed the comment I made on it so far, but forgot to remove that part of the  summary that some folks get in their rss reader.  I have seen a lot of stuff on imports that I've been too busy to put down here and want to catch up on that today.  So much for all the house and business work I could have caught up on today.

tags: china  food imports  food safety  

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