The Agriculture Department is seeking to allow shipments of poultry processed in China, where thousands of birds and several people have died of bird flu.
Critics are urging the department to drop the proposal, and the U.S. industry is raising concerns about how it would affect consumers' perception of chicken safety. The United States does not accept poultry imports from countries where the virulent bird flu strain is present.
The Agriculture Department proposed the rule, with no announcement, on Nov. 23. The rule still must be finalized before it takes effect.
Now I know little to nothing about the poultry industry, the few chickens My Darling Wife has around here are enough for me, but importing birds from China which has bird flu problems doesn't seem like the wisest thing in the world to me. Then look at the way they snuck this rule in. Trying to get it in under the radar so people wouldn't oppose it. Does the USDA care about the American consumers and producers, or are they there to maximize profits for the big meat packing companies?
The USDA is out of control and needs stopped. It's job should be about American producers and consumers, not Canadian and Chinese and whoever else can supply the meat packers with cheap meat to maximize their profits.
You protect your being when you love yourself better. That's the secret. Isabelle Adjani
What are they thinking?
Do they think at all?
Obviously not!