Rep. Rosa DeLauro wrote to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to express concerns regarding what she called, “alarming reports that suggest the administration is moving forward with its plan to allow the People’s Republic of China to export its own poultry products to the United States.”
She explained that Ted McKinney, USDA under secretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs, had a meeting with deputy director Zhang Jiwen to discuss issues related to international agriculture trade, including poultry products. DeLauro explained that given China’s food safety reputation she is appalled that officials from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service were not included in the said meeting.
DeLauro used a recent report from China’s Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) that claimed the agency found more than 500,000 occurrences of illegal behavior and food safety violations in 2016 to support her case.
Bi Jingquan, CFDA’s former top official was quoted as saying the Chinese food system was “deep seated” with problems.
Nutrition and health
As a result of China’s coal mining industry soil contamination and animal feed affect chicken nutrition in the country as birds have been said to have heavy metals such as lead and cadmium in chicken tissue.
DeLauro’s letter explained that on top of unproperly feeding birds, the rampant misuse of antibiotics in China is a risk to not only the birds, but humans too. DeLauro referenced the following quote from Chinese researcher, Dr. Hongning Wang, explaining that antibiotic resistant genes are being carried by the China’s commercial flocks.
“It is time to let the public understand the serious consequences of the abuse of antibiotics. If the last line of antibiotics is breach by bacteria, we will find ourselves in the post-antibiotic era,” Wang said.
DeLauro concluded that the U.S. importing Chinese-raised poses serious health risk for consumers. She suggested that the potential trade of these chicken products should be tabled till a committee of officials can get together to discuss such risk.
“The safety of our nation’s food supply should not be compromised by politicized, quid-pro-quo trade negotiations,” she said.
