worms found in CHINESE chocolate
This was on a news flash about 10 minutes ago. In summary:
Someone in China is producing fake ferro rocher chocolate. the chocolate balls were found to be infested with worms. :o :o :o
Even tho they were the victim of another fake brand by China, I don't think I could eat the real thing again.
(Like after they broke the story about the parasitic bug eggs in Korean Kimuchi. Could never bring myself to touch it again altho I really did like it.)
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Ferret Research: http://ferretknots.blogspot.com/
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"It isn't better to feel joy than to feel grief. It is certainly more fun to feel joy--but it isn't better. If something good is happening, it is appropriate to be joyful. If you have experienced loss, it is equally appropriate to be sad."
-LIFE AFTER LOSS, Bob Deits
This was on a news flash about 10 minutes ago. In summary:
Someone in China is producing fake ferro rocher chocolate. the chocolate balls were found to be infested with worms. :o :o :o
So not vegan. Unless they're just delicious chocolate worms.
But something tells me that's not the case.
I don't trust one single thing that comes out of China. I try my best to boycott their products (for both quality and ethical reasons) but frankly, it's often impossible. Sometimes there are simply no alternatives to be found. In those cases if I can do without, I do. Not always possible, unfortunately.
I don't trust one single thing that comes out of China. I try my best to boycott their products (for both quality and ethical reasons) but frankly, it's often impossible. Sometimes there are simply no alternatives to be found. In those cases if I can do without, I do. Not always possible, unfortunately.
Last week on a really good, solid news series here they did a 2 part episode about China and their products.
FIrst one was about SAFETY then next about Counterfiets. During the second one they interviewed an American woman (IL or IN) about a book she wrote . I forget the title offhand but it was something like LIFE WITHOUT CHINA. It was about her and her family's year of living without Chinese made or imported products. She said in the end, she had a whole new view of China's influence on their life and that it was an extremely difficult year- from toys , to furniture, to food.
If I remeber the name, I'll post it. :)
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Ferret Research: http://ferretknots.blogspot.com/
Ferret Resources: http://nippynihon.blogspot.com/
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"It isn't better to feel joy than to feel grief. It is certainly more fun to feel joy--but it isn't better. If something good is happening, it is appropriate to be joyful. If you have experienced loss, it is equally appropriate to be sad."
-LIFE AFTER LOSS, Bob Deits
Oh man that is sck! I used to love rocher balls! I don't think i can go near them now! Way to F* up China!
Mmmmmm, worms.....NOT! Totally gross! http://bestsmileys.com/puking/2.gif
Mmmmmm, worms.....NOT! Totally gross! http://bestsmileys.com/puking/2.gif
LOVE that emoticon, Storm!! ;D We need it added to our menagerie of emoticons here!!
What we're seeing now in China is kind of an offshoot of the American Civil War.
One of the results of that war, as you probably know, was the abolition of slavery. At least the kind that involved one person owning another and using his/her labor as he willed.
This made maximizing profits a little more difficult. Not a lot, since the "master" class soon devised other ways to exploit poor people and steal their labor, but they never found a way quite so efficient as outright slavery.
Until now.
Someone figured out eventually that there was an even more efficient way to enslave people. Don't bring the slave to the work. Bring the work to the slave.
Under the old system you had to lay out the sizable purchase price of the slave up front. Then you had to protect that investment by keeping the slave alive and healthy enough to work. You had to feed him and provide him with shelter. If he took ill you would need to provide medical care to get him healthy again or risk losing your investment. While he was recovering he might be too ill to work for a period of time. You still had to feed him throughout that period. You also had to worry about unwanted influences that the slave's home culture might eventually have on your own.
Plus, you had to look at him. You had to hear his cries of pain and torment, his anguish at not being free. You also had to consider the risk of his discontent driving him to the point where he might hurt or kill you since he was close by.
How much better this new system is!
You arrange with the government of your new slave's home-country to do business with them. You send your work to a facility there. The government provides you with very inexpensive labor. They in turn pay the new slaves barely enough to survive. Since there is no initial outlay to purchase the slaves there is no real reason to waste money on keeping them healthy and well. If they get sick or die you simply replace them with a new slave off the street. Their government effectively owns them all already. If they revolt, you don't have to worry about it. Their government takes care of that in a jiffy. Otherwise the flow of cash you're paying them will stop and we can't have that.
So what if the quality of what this produces is something less than what your market is used to? Simply eliminate high-quality competition by getting everyone else to take advantage of this new slavery system. By doing so you eliminate choices. They'll buy what you're selling or go without.
I won't bother getting into the other benefits of this system such as not having to deal with pesky environmental laws. They should be obvious enough.
That's dispicable.
During the second one they interviewed an American woman (IL or IN) about a book she wrote . I forget the title offhand but it was something like LIFE WITHOUT CHINA. It was about her and her family's year of living without Chinese made or imported products. She said in the end, she had a whole new view of China's influence on their life and that it was an extremely difficult year- from toys , to furniture, to food.
If I remeber the name, I'll post it. :)
Her name is Sara Bongiorni; there was a bit on CNN about her a month ago:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/07/26/china.products/index.html?iref=newssearch
She was even startled about how difficult it is to source food. I was stunned the other day when, at a local produce stand there were garlic bulbs, three to a package, with a "made in China" stamp. WTF?
sick!
... Someone figured out eventually that there was an even more efficient way to enslave people. Don't bring the slave to the work. Bring the work to the slave....
So infuriatingly sad and true. We Americans, especially as vegans and supportive of respecting life and quality of life for all living creatures including people, need to make a stand and start the movement against propagating our government's lack of ethics in promoting China's inferior standards in product safety and quality, and lack of integrity in industry practices and treatment of her citizens. We need to boycott as much "made in China" products as possible and insist our gov't be more ethical in we Americans' (and the world's) best interests and concerns.
Did I mention how much this infuriates me?? On so many levels! >:(
Her name is Sara Bongiorni; there was a bit on CNN about her a month ago:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/07/26/china.products/index.html?iref=newssearch
She was on NPR, also.
http://www.npr.org/search.php?text=Sara+Bongiorni&prgId=0&how_long_ago=0&submit=Go
Her name is Sara Bongiorni; there was a bit on CNN about her a month ago:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/07/26/china.products/index.html?iref=newssearch
She was even startled about how difficult it is to source food. I was stunned the other day when, at a local produce stand there were garlic bulbs, three to a package, with a "made in China" stamp. WTF?
Yep! That's her. I'm really surprised they didn't mention her book tho ???
A lot, ALOT of fresh food is imported from China. (Because it's so cheap and Japan has no land) What's worse is that they aren't very clear about it.
I bought a package of watercress one day that said in big letters it was from my prefecture. However, what really ticked me off was after I got home and looked at the tiny dietary label on the back -- the packaging was done here, the actual veggies were from CHINA.
>:( >:(
What we're seeing now in China is kind of an offshoot of the American Civil War.
Although I didn't retain much about American HIstory (so not interested) I would have to argue that point a little knowing, in comparison, far more Chinese history. China has had a endless run of bad dictators taking advantage of their own people for centuries. I stand by my statement that the Chinese "President" is as much as president as the "president" of North Korea.
Chinese government has a long and sad history of not giving a sh&* about thier own people and treating them in that exact manner. :P
Did america take advantage of the resultant cheap prices? sure, just like every other country though. It's all about the money.
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Ferret Research: http://ferretknots.blogspot.com/
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"It isn't better to feel joy than to feel grief. It is certainly more fun to feel joy--but it isn't better. If something good is happening, it is appropriate to be joyful. If you have experienced loss, it is equally appropriate to be sad."
-LIFE AFTER LOSS, Bob Deits
ii heard that lady on npr too...
i just dont know how our govt corporation allows such crap to be brought into this country. there was even this women on one of the news shows saying that (essentially) "if we demand that rules be followed regarding lead paint, worker ethics, sanitation (ie; pesticides, etc), things will cost more here at home. walmart wont be as cheap, so we need to watch out" WTF? like its better to sacrifice our children's health for cheaper toys???
its scary how little is done about this stuff... also w/ the counterfeit medicines! they have found them in legitimate pharmacies! SCARY!!
Part of our hedonistic I want it and I want it NOW and I want DIRT CHEAP comes from the fact that so many goods are from China. The trade deficit with China is truly enormous and it needn't be that way. There are no jeans made in America. This iconic article of clothing is not longer made here, by anyone. Why? Because companies want bigger profits, American labor is expensive and people don't want to pay more.
So what is so bad about paying more for American goods? Nothing, other than the fact that we have fewer high paying jobs than we once did because the factories went overseas!!! It is a vicious cycle and I am have no idea how to break it, but I think boycotting Chinese goods is an excellent start.
American's are so greedy, it strikes me. We really don't need the loads of new clothes regularly, most of which come from China, Korea, Taiwan and India. Less CAN and actually usually IS more. And to bring this back to a vegan stance, it is this attitude that has given us a McDonald's $1 menu, supersized soda and burgers, and other big and cheap meals, electronics, toys, shoes, watches, etc. Gimme gimme gimme, NOW AND CHEAP. It is this attitude that leads to obesity too.
We are gluttens...
Yup, I am in for the boycott.
What we're seeing now in China is kind of an offshoot of the American Civil War.
Although I didn't retain much about American HIstory (so not interested) I would have to argue that point a little knowing, in comparison, far more Chinese history. China has had a endless run of bad dictators taking advantage of their own people for centuries. I stand by my statement that the Chinese "President" is as much as president as the "president" of North Korea.
Chinese government has a long and sad history of not giving a sh&* about thier own people and treating them in that exact manner. :P
Did america take advantage of the resultant cheap prices? sure, just like every other country though. It's all about the money.
I meant that the motivation for American companies moving their operations to places like China for cheap "slave" labor can be traced back at least to the American Civil War. The motivations of the Chinese have their own set of roots.
ii heard that lady on npr too...
i just dont know how our govt corporation allows such crap to be brought into this country. there was even this women on one of the news shows saying that (essentially) "if we demand that rules be followed regarding lead paint, worker ethics, sanitation (ie; pesticides, etc), things will cost more here at home. walmart wont be as cheap, so we need to watch out" WTF? like its better to sacrifice our children's health for cheaper toys???
The funny thing is, in that series, they interviewed a very irrate man about the ban on Chinese eel in Japan. He was quoted as saying very smugly: "We're doing our best to meet with Japan's requests, but if they add any more restrictions/demands to our operations then they won't be able to eat eel anymore."
Most Japanese LOVE eel. It's the summer dish to beat the heat.
The medicine in question was something to prevent illness in the crowded eel farms, but causes CANCER in humans.
Hmmm, cancer or eel? Tough choice.
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Ferret Research: http://ferretknots.blogspot.com/
Ferret Resources: http://nippynihon.blogspot.com/
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"It isn't better to feel joy than to feel grief. It is certainly more fun to feel joy--but it isn't better. If something good is happening, it is appropriate to be joyful. If you have experienced loss, it is equally appropriate to be sad."
-LIFE AFTER LOSS, Bob Deits
The medicine in question was something to prevent illness in the crowded eel farms, but causes CANCER in humans.
Hmmm, cancer or eel? Tough choice.
Even bigger than the cancer problem (from what I understand a lot of the substances in question require repeated exposure over many years before there is an increased cancer risk) is the practice of releasing doses of strong antibiotics into the ecosystem. When you dump them into a filthy, disease laden fish pond a lot of the stuff makes it out into the surrounding water. When bacteria are exposed to these antibiotics the weakest of their population is wiped out. The bacteria that is resistant to the antibiotics now have room to grow and reproduce with less competition. It's how resistant strains ("superbugs") come into being.
The Chinese fish farming industry is perfectly willing to risk the creation of new superbugs to plague the planet as long as profits increase by these practices.
By and large, China is simply not acting as a responsible world citizen. Growth and profit over everything else.
Even bigger than the cancer problem (from what I understand a lot of the substances in question require repeated exposure over many years before there is an increased cancer risk)
You've obviously never seen the way the entire Japanese population consumes fish products. Or tobacco or alcohol for that matter.
"Like there's no tomorrow" takes on a whole new meaning.
;)
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Ferret Research: http://ferretknots.blogspot.com/
Ferret Resources: http://nippynihon.blogspot.com/
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"It isn't better to feel joy than to feel grief. It is certainly more fun to feel joy--but it isn't better. If something good is happening, it is appropriate to be joyful. If you have experienced loss, it is equally appropriate to be sad."
-LIFE AFTER LOSS, Bob Deits
Part of our hedonistic I want it and I want it NOW and I want DIRT CHEAP comes from the fact that so many goods are from China. The trade deficit with China is truly enormous and it needn't be that way. There are no jeans made in America. This iconic article of clothing is not longer made here, by anyone. Why? Because companies want bigger profits, American labor is expensive and people don't want to pay more.
I totally agree with you ladyD, except there are companies that still produce jeans made in the U.S.
http://www.usstuff.com/jeans.htm/
Here is a great cothing company to buy from:
http://store.americanapparel.net/
I love there styles and prices. Best of all, all of there stuff is made in the U.S. in a fair wage system. Their employs get good wages and good benefits :)