# From china?



## GaDawg (Apr 9, 2015)

Smithfield Farms, the largest pork producing farm in the USA was 
sold in September to China with the unanimous support of its 
stockholders!! The hogs will still be raised here, but slaughtered 
and packaged for sale there before being sent back here. This 
includes labels of:
· Morrell
· Eckrich
· Krakus
· Cudahy
· Premium Hams
· Cook's
· Gwaltney


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## sour_grapes (Apr 9, 2015)

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/smithfield.asp


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## Boatboy24 (Apr 9, 2015)

I would imagine that the cost of shipping whole hogs to China for processing would far outweigh the labor cost savings. However, because of their Chinese ownership, and the fact that nearly every 'fresh' meat they sell is pumped full of chemicals (aka: 'self basting'), I don't buy their products.


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## botigol (Apr 9, 2015)

According to a restaurant owner that I know, who is trying to get into food processing/storage to reduce his costs, most of the fish caught in Alaskan waters is shipped to China for processing before it is shipped back to the US. This really surprised me, because I also thought that the cost would be ridiculously high moving product back and forth like that.


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## JohnT (Apr 9, 2015)

Shipping on a grand scale is cheap as chips, especially if you own the ship! 

Folks, manufacturers out there are onto the fact that people prefer goods not "made in China" and take great lengths to hide it.

Take any product, for example, that might say "Swiss Made". This could mean that the parts are Swiss made, but the actual assembly is in China. 

The manufacturing labor costs are vastly different. Think about it.. A man living in a mud hut in a country with no unions earns next to nothing and works twice as hard. 

I am by no means a communist, but I do feel that it is very sad how we sell out our own and support pathetic foreign standards of living.


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## corinth (Apr 9, 2015)

*from China*

I am sure many of you are old enough to remember years ago a company got into some trouble because their crates had printed on the side "made in America" only to fin out that only the crate was made in America.

zuìjìn nǐ hǎo ma? 

corinth
Shì shénme zài jīn wǎn de bōlí(what's in your glass tonight?)"


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## barbiek (Apr 9, 2015)

GaDawg said:


> Smithfield Farms, the largest pork producing farm in the USA was
> sold in September to China with the unanimous support of its
> stockholders!! The hogs will still be raised here, but slaughtered
> and packaged for sale there before being sent back here. This
> ...


And we as consumers pay for the shipping expense


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## sour_grapes (Apr 9, 2015)

FWIW, here is what Smithfield has to say on these subjects. (From http://investors.smithfieldfoods.com/faq.cfm )



> *Will pork be imported from China to the US?*
> 
> We do not anticipate any imports from China. There is tremendous population growth in China and a great shortage of pork to meet the growing demand, coupled with their lack of crop land to produce feed and small scale hog farms, make any pork exports from the country highly unlikely.





> *How will this affect jobs in the US?*
> 
> While it is impossible to predict future economic trends and market changes, the merger will allow Smithfield to continue to grow as a leader in the meat industry. Together with WH Group, Smithfield will export safe, high-quality products to meet the growing demand of pork in China. The merger creates a company with an unmatched set of assets, products and geographic reach that will benefit the entire Smithfield Foods family. WH Group’s distribution network in China will allow the American pork industry, through Smithfield Foods, increased access to new markets and consumers.
> 
> Hog production will remain domestic.


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## GaDawg (May 29, 2015)

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture...k-side-of-americas-top-pork-producer-20061214


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## JohnT (May 29, 2015)

I do not think that that article was fair. The writer seemed against industrial livestock on the onset. The fact is that we have 6 billion people in the world to feed and only have the capability to feed 4 billion. Products like genetically enhanced crops and efficient live-stocking is the only hope to feed the world. I do not thing that a starving person will care how the pig was treated... 

That being said, the excrement from these pig farms is not being used efficiently. They make no mention that this resource can be used as fuel (methane) or fertilizer to make for a more sustained farming practice.

I wonder if the writer for the Rolling Stone is a vegan?


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## GaDawg (May 30, 2015)

First I am not a vegan, but I do not think antibiotics and steroids in our food is good for anyone. If a pork producer can not keep a pig alive for 9 mo. Without a daily dose of steroids and antibiotics I do not believe it is fit for human consumption . Have you not seen the obesity in this country? You know one thing about science, it true whether you believe it or not.


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## Boatboy24 (May 30, 2015)

Regardless of whether I agree with the Rolling Stone article or not, I don't believe much they have to say after the UVA gang rape debacle. The media in general, needs a watch dog. I'm off topic, but I just read an article the other day about a guy who ran a fake study, and had it published in numerous journals. He concluded that people on diets had better results if they ate a small chocolate bar every day. After the article was initially published, it went viral and was reposted in a ridiculous number of media outlets over the next 24 hours.


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## yanks4carolyn (Sep 10, 2015)

If a UPC code starts with 
690-692, it is from China.
00-09 is US and Canada.
30-37 Germany
471 Taiwan
49 Japan
50 UK
I've checked different things that I already know where they're from and it has proven correct. 
When China put finely ground plastic in powdered baby formula, I became very aware of where food comes from.


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