# Fresh garlic, made in China.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [March 15, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024 "2013-03-15T18:33:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/1 "2013-03-15T18:33:14Z")
At a small market in the USA. There was a bin of fresh garlic. Upon closer examination I read that it came from China. I understand people buying labor intensive products from China. But a head of garlic? America may have the finest soil in the world. How can growing/shipping garlic from China be cheaper than growing it in the USA? I don’t get it.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/2 "2013-03-15T18:41:08Z")
We import a lot of produce. They all have to be picked an packed, and that’s expensive here in the US. There are plenty of food products imported from China and other countries where tossing some crates of garlic on the boat in addition to the other stuff might result in a negligible cost of shipping. And I’d assume garlic is a traded commodity, and those get distributed in all sorts of odd ways. A container ship may have showed up in Hawaii with a few tons of garlic purchased as a commodity order, then got distributed around the Pacific rim. US garlic might even be selling for a higher price somewhere else making the Chinese garlic a bargain even it was the same as typical domestic prices.
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### Author:  [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/3 "2013-03-15T18:50:43Z")
Thanks TP. I guess it is possible. Another question. Given the extensive ground contamination in China, who would buy produce from China?
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/4 "2013-03-15T19:45:50Z")
It never even occurred to me that people might find imported produce unusual. In Canada, a large proportion of fruits and vegetables is imported in the winter from the U.S., Mexico, South America and elsewhere.
At our house we eat Chinese pomelos on a fairly regular basis. Maybe I’ll start worrying about tainted pomelos from now on, but I doubt it.
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### Author:  [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/5 "2013-03-15T19:46:35Z")
Lots of people, if the price is cheap enough. Here in California, where you’d think we’d get local produce most of the year, there’s tons of produce from all over the world.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/6 "2013-03-15T21:15:28Z")
A lot of garlic powder sold in the U.S. seems to come from China.
I avoid produce/meats/fish imported from China whenever possible. And pet food/treats.
I hear bottled water from the Shanghai municipal system is quite piquant, although probably not for Orthodox Jews and Muslims.
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/7 "2013-03-15T21:31:17Z")
Here’s a somewhat dated story about Chinese garlic: [U.S. Growers Say China's Grip on Garlic Stinks : NPR](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11613477)
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### Author:  [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/8 "2013-03-15T21:39:27Z")
Imported garlic?? They grow so much garlic in Gilroy, CA that they stuff falls off the trucks and it looks like its been snowing in August.
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### Author:  [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/9 "2013-03-16T00:21:22Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> Imported garlic?? They grow so much garlic in Gilroy, CA that they stuff falls off the trucks and it looks like its been snowing in August.
So, I guess Gilroy doesn’t have much of a vampire problem then?
Wonder how much lead is in the Chinese garlic anyway 😉
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/10 "2013-03-16T00:56:06Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#):
>
> Thanks TP. I guess it is possible. Another question. Given the extensive ground contamination in China, who would buy produce from China?
Uneducated people who simply buy the cheapest produce they can find. Unfortunately, that’s the vast majority of Americans who buy “fresh” produce at all. As much as I would like to buy nothing at all from China, it’s darned near impossible for my pocketbook, but I draw the line at any/all foods. Though I’m fully aware that some ingredients may still be coming from China, but hope that they go through at least a little extra vetting if used as an ingredient for foods otherwise manufactured and labeled as being made in the US or Canada. At least since the melamine scandal, anyway.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/11 "2013-03-16T01:23:38Z")
I bought a container of fresh peach chunks in juice the other day (not canned - they needed refrigeration), and to my surprise, they were also from China. Some of the people who buy produce from China are in Canada, where we don’t get a lot of fresh peaches this time of year. I’ve since checked the labels on all the canned-type peaches at Safeway, and the closest I can get is peaches from Chile. This is kind of funny, since BC, the province right next door, grows tons of gorgeous peaches. It’s China or can my own to get peaches this time of year!
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/12 "2013-03-16T01:48:31Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> Imported garlic?? They grow so much garlic in Gilroy, CA that they stuff falls off the trucks and it looks like its been snowing in August.
Last year at about this time we were driving from Fresno to San Jose to pick up the SF end of rt 1 to ride it down the coast to LA [I know, how trite and touristy:rolleyes::p] and we popped over a hill [at about 8 am] and suddenly mrAru and I got this incredible craving for some garlic cheesy bread and marinara dipping sauce. We were still about 5 miles out of Gilroy and all we could smell was GARLIC!!! and it was fantastic.
Of course living there would be different, I suppose you would get tired of everything tasting like garlic whether it had garlic in it or not.
But for a short time, it was amazing.
Probably in a couple of years we might make a trip and deliberately plan on going ot the Garlic festival, though I really really want to do the artichoke festival too. Maybe I need to talk mrAru into moving to Fresno for a couple years.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/13 "2013-03-16T01:57:03Z")
This, from Associated Press today, is among the many reasons I really don’t want anything from China in my mouth. If they’re willing to do this with livestock, I don’t even want to think about what they’re doing to produce. Anyone remember the exploding watermelons?
> [@](#):
>
> BEIJING (AP) – The number of dead pigs found in a Shanghai river that provides drinking water to the Chinese financial hub has risen to 8,354, after local authorities pulled 809 more pigs out of the river on Friday.
>
> The Shanghai municipal government has repeatedly assured the city’s 23 million residents that tap water is safe. Shanghai locals, however, remain worried about water contamination from the swollen and rotting carcasses in the river.
>
> The dead pigs are believed to be from hog farms in the upstream Jiaxing area in neighboring Zhejiang province. A surge in pig dumping has followed police campaigns against the sale of pork products made from diseased pigs.
>
> Chinese state media say one Jiaxing hog farmer has admitted to pig dumping and is under investigation.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/14 "2013-03-16T02:07:05Z")
And I’ve heard it said by a friend, some years ago (sorry, don’t have a cite), that the garlic-growing industry in the Gilroy area is dying out, due to competition from Chinese garlic. What Gilroy has now, more and more, is an industry of importers and distributers of Chinese garlic.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/15 "2013-03-16T04:03:09Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> Imported garlic?? They grow so much garlic in Gilroy, CA that they stuff falls off the trucks and it looks like its been snowing in August.
Not as much as you seem to think. [Far more is produced in China than Gilroy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic#Production_trends).
```auto
Country Production in tonnes
China 13,664,069
India 833,970
South Korea 271,560
Egypt 244,626
Russia 213,480
Myanmar 185,900
Ethiopia 180,300
United States 169,510
Bangladesh 164,392
Ukraine 157,400
```
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/16 "2013-03-16T05:31:03Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> And I’ve heard it said by a friend, some years ago (sorry, don’t have a cite), that the garlic-growing industry in the Gilroy area is dying out, due to competition from Chinese garlic. What Gilroy has now, more and more, is an industry of importers and distributers of Chinese garlic.
That does it, I am going to just start growing my own damned garlic. Thank Ghu it preserves well enough by hanging in a cool dark area.
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### Author:  [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/17 "2013-03-16T12:49:10Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#):
>
> Thanks TP. I guess it is possible. Another question. Given the extensive ground contamination in China, who would buy produce from China?
Well, probably about a billion Chinese people, to start with.
China has some serious quality control issues, but it’s not like the entire place is a giant radiation swamp. I’m sure if there was serious contamination of Chinese garlic, the US growers would have jumped on that a long, long time ago.
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### Author:  [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/18 "2013-03-16T13:45:41Z")
In my local supermarket the cheap garlic is also from China. More expensive, nicer looking stuff seems to be mainly sourced in France. I am not sure if garlic is grown here commercially.
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### Author:  [@simple\_homer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simple_homer)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/19 "2013-03-16T13:50:25Z")
“Number of pigs plucked from Shanghai river tops 12,000”.
> **[Number of pigs plucked from Shanghai river tops 12,000](https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/number-of-pigs-plucked-from-shanghai-river-tops-12-000-1.1198284)**
>
> The number of dead pigs retrieved from waters in and near China's financial hub of Shanghai has reached 12,566.
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### Author:  [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fresh-garlic-made-in-china/653024/20 "2013-03-16T14:03:58Z")
Growing produce on a large scale is extremely labor intensive. There is a commercial produce farm down the street from me ([link](http://www.michaelfarms.com)), and they rely on immigrant labor to work the fields. They’re in the fields _all day_, and I imagine the pay isn’t stellar.
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