# Do you avoid food imported from China?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 11, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883 "2016-04-11T13:49:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/1 "2016-04-11T13:49:12Z")
The news out of China seems to frequently include stories of fraud, incompetence and/or negligence that results in injury or death to third parties. Infrastructure collapses, pollution, and food safety are common examples. Of those, [food safety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safety_incidents_in_China) is the one issue most likely to cause problems in other countries via the export of contaminated food products from China.
Assuming you live outside of China, how do you feel about eating food products that were imported from China?
My wife avoids them to the extent possible. A friend likewise once discarded juice he had bought for his son after discovering the “made in China” label on it.
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### Author:  [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/2 "2016-04-11T14:06:00Z")
I’m pretty sure FDA laws apply to all food sold in the USA, not just what was produced here.
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### Author:  [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/3 "2016-04-11T14:10:43Z")
There was a hoax email going around which claimed that Tyson was getting its chickens processed in China under disgusting conditions.
[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/china-chicken-reshipped/).
While this turned out to be fake as Tyson had no plans to offshore its processing, it’s legal for American companies to do this under the guidelines of the USDA.
I rarely buy frozen foods, but you can guarantee I go over the packaging with a fine toothed comb to make sure that it says it’s processed in North America. I tossed a bag of frozen veggies that were from China that the wife had brought home.
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/4 "2016-04-11T14:16:42Z")
> [@boffking](#):
>
> I’m pretty sure FDA laws apply to all food sold in the USA, not just what was produced here.
I have absolutely no doubt that the FDA’s food safety laws are applicable.
How strong is your faith that Chinese exporters are adhering to those laws?
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/5 "2016-04-11T14:50:24Z")
Roughly ten years ago a neighbors dog died after eating [dog-food from China](http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/SafetyHealth/RecallsWithdrawals/ucm129932.htm#China).
Since that time I have avoided buying _anything_ made in China, although it’s often difficult or impossible.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/6 "2016-04-11T14:54:54Z")
I avoid dog food and treats from China.
It never occurred to me that people food would be made in China, really. Now I am gonna be paranoid.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/7 "2016-04-11T15:01:09Z")
I tend to shy away from processed foods made in China if I can. But as far as raw foodstuffs go, I doubt I could really avoid anything from China even if I wanted to. There are probably too many US manufacturers and restaurants using various Chinese vegetables and what-not to avoid, and they’re not required to label their products with the origin of their components as far as I’m aware. So a can of soup might be 40% US grown, 15% Chinese grown, and 35% Mexican grown, but it won’t say that on the can.
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/8 "2016-04-11T15:02:57Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> I avoid dog food and treats from China.
>
> It never occurred to me that people food would be made in China, really. Now I am gonna be paranoid.
My guess is you’re most likely to encounter foods imported from China in Chinese restaurants or Asian grocery stores. But my wife has seen edamame (soybeans) in Whole Foods stores that appear to be packaged/sold by an American company, but are labeled as “product of China;” she steers clear.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/9 "2016-04-11T15:03:13Z")
I avoid food and children’s toys made in China. I especially avoid children’s art supplies – too many stories about crayons with lead and such. And I ate crayons as a kid. I only bought children’s art supplies sourced from the US and Germany. (There are other countries I might have bought from but that I never saw on the market, like Canada.)
There’s not a lot of food exported from China, but I’ve turned down apple juice and honey from China. I buy Chinese tea and “Chinese vegetables” (like lotus root) canned in China. But if I can find an American (north or south) or European source, I prefer those.
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### Author:  [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/10 "2016-04-11T15:09:27Z")
Most of the garlic sold in our markets is imported from China. I am not worried about health aspects, but locally grown garlic simply tastes much better. I don’t know if that is the variety or the processing and don’t much care.
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### Author:  [@IT\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IT_Guy)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/11 "2016-04-11T15:53:48Z")
My wife is Chinese (from Beijing). She avoids any food items from Mainland China; products from Taiwan are acceptable, however.
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### Author:  [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/12 "2016-04-11T15:56:44Z")
I avoid honey unless I can verify where it came from because Chinese honey that would normally be banned in the US can be filtered and processed to hide its origin.
The tilapia I stated to buy last week was labeled “farm-raised and frozen in China” and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Surely there’s an someone closer to home growing or catching fish under American rules and regulations. Right?
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/13 "2016-04-11T16:01:26Z")
I definitely avoid it, there are too many cases of Chinese products being unsafe for the sake of cutting costs. It is worth paying a little more for quality.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/14 "2016-04-11T16:13:17Z")
No I seek them out. Many are of good quality, at a reasonable price. I see no reason to make product choices for political reasons.
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### Author:  [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/15 "2016-04-11T16:20:55Z")
> [@control-z](#):
>
> I definitely avoid it, there are too many cases of Chinese products being unsafe for the sake of cutting costs. It is worth paying a little more for quality.
I read somewhere a few years back (sorry, no cite), that in some field or other, 70 percent of the quality complaints and recalls concerned Chinese products. The kicker was that 70 percent of _all_ the products in that field were Chinese – in other words, the “Chinese products are unsafe and inferior” meme turned out to just be good old fashioned confirmation bias.
It’s not like you don’t see a ton of food recalls from American companies, too (and disproportionately “organic” and “natural” stuff). I’d like to see some evidence that the supposed additional lack of safety in Chinese products sold in the US (and subject to US laws and regulations) is actually real rather than just one of those things that “everybody knows.”
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/16 "2016-04-11T16:29:05Z")
When I buy food, I honestly don’t look to see where it came from. I have more urgent things in my life to worry about.
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### Author:  [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/17 "2016-04-11T16:50:32Z")
I will avoid any foodstuffs - for myself or for my pets - that are made in China, for the reasons you mention. Standards simply aren’t high there, and even those things they make specifically for export to the US often don’t pass standards and are rejected. I will buy other “made in China” items but only if there are no readily available alternatives.
It’s not an ethnic stance, though, and should their standards improve, I’d be happy to buy.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/18 "2016-04-11T17:05:58Z")
> [@shiftless](#):
>
> I avoid honey unless I can verify where it came from because Chinese honey that would normally be banned in the US can be filtered and processed to hide its origin.
Do you eat so much honey that the price difference between the local stuff and the imported stuff is an issue?
I mean, we don’t use a whole lot (mostly for baking and cooking), but we usually buy [the local stuff](http://txbeeguild.org/) at the farmer’s market.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/19 "2016-04-11T17:06:29Z")
I buy quite a lot of Chinese foodstuffs including noodles, various dried meats, spices, canned eels, etc. I get them at an Asian supermarket that mostly caters for a local Chinese population (so many of the products are not specifically made for the export market to the west)
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-avoid-food-imported-from-china/751883/20 "2016-04-11T17:14:45Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> No I seek them out. Many are of good quality, at a reasonable price. I see no reason to make product choices for political reasons.
😕 Who said anything about politics? My avoidance of made-in-China comestibles has nothing to do with their annexation of Tibet, or their brutal suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, or any of that sort of thing. My concern is entirely with the (perceived) unacceptably high risk of such foods being contaminated/adulterated with hazardous chemicals and/or disease organisms.
IOW, it’s about self-preservation, not politics.
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