Congresswoman Chellie Pingree joined thirteen other bipartisan members of the House of Representatives today to call on their colleagues to ensure unsafe chicken from China does not make its way to US shelves. Their letter asks that the 2014 Agriculture Department (USDA) funding bill ensure Chinese-processed chicken is kept out of the school lunch and other child nutrition programs. It also asks that the bill prevent poultry slaughtered in China from being exported to the US.
“Consider the impact of China’s weak enforcement of food safety laws and regulations…” they wrote to the Chairmen and senior Democrats of the subcommittees responsible for funding the USDA.“More than 300,000 Chinese children fell seriously ill, with some dying, from melamine-tainted milk powder; dangerously high levels of mercury found in Chinese baby formula; the sale of more than $1 million worth of rat and other small mammal meat passed off to consumers as lamb; and more than 16,000 diseased pig carcasses dumped in a river to rot.
“Last year China Central Television revealed that a Chinese poultry supplier provided Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants with chicken fattened by large quantities of illegal drugs. In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced that,since 2007, pet treats imported from China containing contaminated chicken have killed 600 dogs and cats in the United States, and sickened 3,600 more. According to the World Health Organization, so far 45 of the 136 people whocontracted the H7N9 bird flu in China this year have died.”
The letter can be read in its entirety here. Numerous advocacy and consumer safety groups support the representatives’ letter, including: Food and Water Watch, Consumer Federation of America, National Farmers Union, Consumers Union and the Center for Foodborne Illness.
