Althouse: "From rat meat masquerading as lamb to tainted milk to exploding watermelons..."

June 26, 2015

"From rat meat masquerading as lamb to tainted milk to exploding watermelons..."

"... Chinese consumers have become inured to stomach-churning food scandals. But on Tuesday, countless people were forced to ponder the benefits of vegetarianism after news reports emerged that unscrupulous meat traders had been peddling tons of beef, pork and chicken wings that in some cases had been frozen for 40 years."

24 comments:

David Begley said...: Another solid reason for TPP. We need to bring more Chinese products to America.

And, of course, that means six figure speaking fees for the Obamas and the Clintons.; 6/26/15, 6:02 AM
rhhardin said...: Your garlic powder comes from China unless you actively look for California garlic.

The vet says don't feed Chinese dog treats.; 6/26/15, 6:14 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I wouldn't DNA test that suspicious meat, if I were them.; 6/26/15, 6:22 AM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: Russian scientists a few years back cooked and ate a bit of mammoth meat which had been frozen for something like 14,000 years. They pronounced it "khoroSHO", but that was probably after half a litre of vodka, each.

If it wasn't freezer-burned, I don't see any reason why something frozen for forty years would necessarily be bad, and certainly not dangerous. At least no more dangerous than eating *anything* in China. Or from China.; 6/26/15, 6:24 AM
MadisonMan said...: Who stores meat for 40 years? A government somewhere did that, and found the surplus after the bureaucrat overseeing it retired with a nice pension.; 6/26/15, 6:43 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Tom Friedman will tell you that 40 year old meat tech is impressive and America, with just a little more fairness in taxation for our wealthiest members, could be eating shoulder to shoulder with the Chinese.; 6/26/15, 7:27 AM
Rusty said...: And, according to the usual suspects, China is going to take over the world and we should emulate them.
And what Guild said.

If it wasn't freezer-burned, I don't see any reason why something frozen for forty years would necessarily be bad, and certainly not dangerous. At least no more dangerous than eating *anything* in China. Or from China.

Anecdotal story. My older brother was head of maintenance for Polar at a major Midwestern airport. Polar's major contract was China and there were direct flights from the Midwest to China every day. Twice a month he'd fill two seventy two quart coolers with Portillos, White Castle, Giordanos pizza, you get the idea. And send it to the station chief of Polar in China. When it rained they'd open the gates to the runways so the people could go out on the runways and gather the insects and worms that accumulated there. For food.; 6/26/15, 7:45 AM
Ambrose said...: Meat from the Cultural Revolution - it could have a certain cache for those nostalgic for revolutionary times.; 6/26/15, 7:45 AM
Anonymous said...: Frozen for 40 years? No way. They didn't have refrigerators, nor food to freeze.

Ambrose said...
Meat from the Cultural Revolution

Hmm, better check the DNA to make sure the meat are animal meat.; 6/26/15, 7:53 AM
James Pawlak said...: 今天你吃了。

Or, from "Diskworld", SAUSAGES IN A BUN.; 6/26/15, 7:56 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: So that's what happened to Ted Williams!; 6/26/15, 8:18 AM
MadisonMan said...: Ambrose, your typo is both awesome and disturbing.; 6/26/15, 8:47 AM
dbp said...: As usual The New York Times gets basic "facts" totally wrong:

"In 2008, milk powder tainted with melamine, a toxic industrial compound, made 300,000 babies ill and six died."

Melamine is not toxic in any normal use of the word. You can still purchase melamine dinnerware. The babies died because they were being fed powdered plastic instead of powdered baby formula. The LD50 of melamine is about the same as that of table salt.; 6/26/15, 8:52 AM
dbp said...: The word "tainted" implies that a food was mishandled and became contaminated or spoiled in some way. what happened in the melamine scandal was that the formula (or powdered milk) was adulterated with melamine to make it look as if it had a high protein concentration. The analytical equipment measures nitrogen, which is contained in protein and in melamine. Melamine is cheaper than powdered milk.; 6/26/15, 9:05 AM
Mary Beth said...: James Pawlak said...

今天你吃了。

Or, from "Diskworld", SAUSAGES IN A BUN.

6/26/15, 7:56 AM

Or rats on a stick. With ketchup.; 6/26/15, 9:56 AM
Todd said...: Mary Beth said...

Or rats on a stick. With ketchup.

6/26/15, 9:56 AM

Everything is better with ketchup!; 6/26/15, 10:05 AM
Jan R. said...: And this comes after American trade law has been altered to stop the requirement that meat be labeled with country of origin. I'm not going to buy anything I can't trace to an American farm. If that means buying straight from the farmer, so be it.; 6/26/15, 11:08 AM
Bricap said...: I've been frozen for 30 years. Throw me a frickin' bone here, okay???; 6/26/15, 3:43 PM
Ann Althouse said...: One time people 250,000-year-old mammoth meat that had been frozen.; 6/26/15, 9:21 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Uncle John's Band.

Rashoman.

Heh.

"Given the manpower and logistics I could concur if things were cooled off just one smidgennly bit, and I don't mean smidgeon like that guy, um... oh yeah, The Great Tim Robbins in The Coens' THe hUDESCKER PROXY."

Alas.; 6/26/15, 9:22 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "One time people 250,000-year-old mammoth meat that had been frozen."

I never suspected this was an alt site.

Not despite, because of the eponymy.

Eponymy hereby intended to involve that strange term eponymous.; 6/26/15, 9:25 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: It's like you fucks need me to preach "The Prince" to your ass' free.

I told you once, againa I'ma tellinga ya's: $6987 per month for 18.23 years and we got a deal.

Defeat them I tell you how; payment after yoda; law mean evil word.; 6/26/15, 9:32 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Einstein was decent enough, but for my money, Da Vinci is the shit.

Y'all don't even know, do you.

"There was a guild of cannon balls;

THeir motto is don't tread on me."

Come here, Uncle John's Band...

Come Hear, Uncle John's Bnad....

By the riverside.

Got some things to talk about,

here, beside the rising tide.

Come hear, Unlce Jon's Band,

PLAY IN TO THE NIGHT.; 6/26/15, 10:07 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: The coen's nor tim robbins con ever compensate for electing W.

But they sure can try; pig suey oooh wha!!

So all is forgiven, like Rushmore taught us.; 6/26/15, 11:11 PM