WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Schumer blasted the Obama administration Sunday for taking steps toward allowing Chinese chicken to be exported to the United States, despite China’s disgusting food safety record.
“It is shocking that given China’s poor track record with regard to food-safety, the [U.S. Department of Agriculture] is taking moving towards allowing China to raise, slaughter and process chicken to be eaten in the U.S.,” said Schumer (D-NY).
The move by the USDA, which was revealed secretly to Congress, would undermine the agency’s mission of “guaranteeing American consumers a safe food supply,” he said.
He called on Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reconsider the effort.
The report revealed that the USDA is considering granting the Chinese slaughter system “equivalence” to the U.S. food safety standards, which would allow those chickens raised and processed in China to be sold in the U.S.
Other steps are required before China’s system would be deemed equivalent. But Schumer said that the report caused “major concern” that USDA is moving in that direction.
Schumer first raised the alarm about Chinese chicken in September, when the USDA proposed allowing American-raised chicken to be shipped to China for processing and then exported back to the U.S.
China has been the location for a nauseating list of food scandals, including arsenic found in calamari and rice, pasta infested with maggots, pumpkin seeds mixed with glass chips and rat meat sold as lamb.