Community Chat

[twinsister]

Today I threw out a new container of McCormick's minced garlic. Never thought to look at country of origin when I bought it, since it was McCormick's brand.  I just assumed it was from the US, but I guess we can't do that anymore.

[esmeraldagooch]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

Did you know almost 100% of the garlic consumed in America is grown in China?  No labels to read on those garlic cloves. 

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Since Gillroy CA is the garlic capital of the world according to them , I don't believe this is true...     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilroy,_California

[CatsyCline]

@Sooner  i know what you mean. i always look at labels at Aldi and the just read "Distributed by Aldi Batavia IL.  

i know the garlic we get in NE is from China. i ran myself silly one time wanting to make pesto and ALL the garlic at 4 different stores was from China.   they all have that nasty green sprout inside.

[noodleann]

Don't assume just because you're buying garlic from a small herb and spice provider that it's not imported from China. In fact, unless it says it's from California, it's probably from China. I emailed one well-known specialty spice company to ask, and they said theirs was from China and sang its praises, but the fact that they failed to identify its origin, which they did on other things, told the whole story.

Re pet food, and human food, one of the big problems is the inclusion of key ingredients that can prove to be toxic, like the melamine substitute in protein supplements that were added to cat food several years back that sickened so many cats, mine included. One ended up in the ER. The label can say the product is made in the USA, but it can include ingredients sourced from across the globe.

I don't know what we can do, except eat fresh as much as possible and ask grocers to identify the country of origin of all their fruits and vegetables. I don't eat out much, but that's a real challenge. I stopped eating Chinese food entirely after two bouts of food poisoning from Chinese restaurant food, and will never have any again unless I make it myself. 

[CatsyCline]

@noodleann  i very rarely eat out.  i got sick 12 years ago after eating Chinese Food but i think it was a bug. nonetheless it was 10 years before i could even try a bite.  i got horribly sick from bad Ahi Tuna.  it was one of those Chef's Specials and i had leftovers and ate it the next day. it had an off taste.  should have known because it was a huge piece of tuna and a Sunday night.

[skuggles]

The fresh garlic sold in most of my local markets says China.

[sfnative]

I've indicated this a few times over the years, but it's been some time, so will share again.

My best friend in the 80s and 90s was a "Filth Inspector."  She worked for a privately held company that contracted with U.s. Customs to take possession of samples of food items that our Customs folks had randomly removed from ships having just arrived from various Asian countries.

My friend worked at a microscope station with petri dishes already prepped with a very thinned out solution of one food item.  A common item for her to evaluate would be soy sauce, for instance.  These petri dishes had a grid on the gel.  Her job was to count the number of each of the following within each grid and to log what was found in each grid on a special form.  Each grid had a number and letter designation:

1.  Insect parts: be specific, if possible; i.e., leg, wing, antennae, thorax

2.  Insect - whole: type, if known

3.  Larvae: whole or part: type, if known

4.  Eggs:  whole or part: type, if known

5.  Rodent hairs 

6.  Feces

7.  Plant matter

She went on to say on one occasion that the items with the highest filth rating were shark fins, as in shark fin soup.  And, she went on to say that having done this job for some time, she would never purchase any food product with its origins in any Asian country.

[Nomore]

For many years, I check for origin on everything I shop for at the grocery stores.  

The one time, that it was overly surprising to me was frozen vegetables, the plain ones, not in steaming bags, with sauces, etc. Broccoli, cauliflower and some others were from China. This was/is a national brand.  I used to use frozen veggies during the winter for cost savings plus getting something out of season, now I don't do that anymore, just get the broccoli, etc. fresh. I talk to the produce guys and look at the boxes to find out what is what.

It takes me a long time now to get through a grocery store run, reading package labels in detail.

[Caligurll]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

Did you know almost 100% of the garlic consumed in America is grown in China?  No labels to read on those garlic cloves. 

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@Kachina624 I just checked the label on a package of garlic from Trader Joe's, and it does say Product of the USA.  I never would have questioned the origin of loose garlic, but now I will be paying even closer attention to the food labeling provided by supermarkets.

[Irshgrl31201]

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@Noel7 wrote:

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@QVCkitty1 wrote:

Everytime I look for dried mushrooms for a recipe, they are from China, and I just won't take the chance.

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@QVCkitty1

We get dried mushrooms from Trader Joe's.  Pretty sure they're not from China, but I'll double check next time.  If you have one in your area, you might want to check it out.

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Yes, I got dried Porcini mushrooms from there and the last time I got them they were from Italy @Noel7 and @QVCkitty1