Do you confidently have Smithfield Foods bacon or sausage with your morning eggs? Have you been known to bring a Smithfield ham to your Christmas dinner? How about John Morrell or Armour or Ekrich hot dogs?...do you grill them for the 4th of July? Well...start worrying boys and girls.
Shingwai (or Shineway), a Chinese food conglomerate, has just announced the purchase of U.S. owned Smithfield Foods. Smithfield is one of America's largest food producer and processor and brings much of your pork products to the American table.
The Wall Street Journal reported the Chinese takeout of one America's food giants is that country's biggest encroachment yet into the American business establishment.
Well, we all knew this was coming. China has had two things going for them for more than two decades; they've manipulated their currency by keeping exchange rates artificially low, and they also just happened to own over a trillion dollars of U.S. government debt. This makes it highly unlikely that the U.S. government is going to intervene as China, now infamous for producing and selling tainted retail products, begins to take over American food processing. After all, when you are drowning in debt, you don't do anything to piss off your "banker".
We've all read the horror stories about tainted Chinese food processing. Remember the infant deaths attributable to tainted baby formula? Remember when we learned that Walmart dog food was made in China? Yeah, the one that killed hundreds of our beloved pets? Can anyone recall a "little problem" China had with Swine Flu? Bird flu anyone?
China's food processing standards have proven to be pretty well non-existent. Not two months ago I read that tiny trading partner Vietnam has executed a boycott against China's meat and fresh produce products. The Vietnamese tired of getting sick and dying over Chinese fruits and vegetables being injected with poisoned chemicals that extended the shelf life of Chinese produce but shorten that of the human who consumes it. They tired of trying to overlook the Chinese practice of using bleach to cover the smell of rotten shrimp.
So, get ready folks! Be ready to be far more vigilant about the food you buy and consume. Its's gonna be hard to avoid the heavy Chinese hand on your food supply because Smithfield Foods occupies a hell of a lot of shelf space in our local grocery store.
You want to start inspecting your breakfast sausage lest you find a little "finger food" you didn't anticipate....how about a little trichinella in your ham? And are you ready to accept more than chicken, turkey, beef or pork in your July 4th hot dogs? Will we find a little "canine" in our hot dogs in the future? After all, something has to be done with all that dog flesh made available from tainted dog food!
Bon Appetit!
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