CPA study of Mexico/China food safety
Ames, Iowa
June 21, 2007

The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) today urged all Americans to contact their state’s congressional delegation and demand that our government take emergency action to protect our nation’s food supply from contaminated and potentially deadly food imports.

“This is a matter of Homeland Security at the most basic level. Our increasingly globalized food supply chain, where anything goes in order to make a buck, is putting our entire nation’s health at risk,” said Fred Stokes, president of the CPA. At a news conference in Ames, Iowa, Stokes provided reporters with a glimpse of the problem by displaying print-outs of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) import refusals from China and Mexico for the past 12 months. The display of rejected food and pharmaceutical exports from China totaled 186 pages, while rejected exports from Mexico, our NAFTA trading partner, totaled 154 pages. End to end, the pages of FDA rejections of imports from China and Mexico over a year’s time would span across a football field.

Thousands of refusal reports in the FDA database show exports to the United States from China and Mexico include food products described as “poisonous” and “filthy.” In many instances pesticides contaminated produce and veterinary drug residue was found in seafood.

Numerous FDA import refusals state Chinese and Mexican exports are found to be contaminated with potentially life-threatening bacteria and residues. Here are some examples of what has been found in just a fraction of our food imports in the past year:

*  Salmonella, the leading cause of foodborne illness death in the United States, was found in seafood, frozen frog legs, frozen rabbits, dried pepper powder and dog chews from China. Salmonella was found in lobster tails, shrimp, fresh cooked crabmeat, chocolate candies, cantaloupes, pumpkin seeds, cilantro cooking sauce, instant tea, rice flour, ground guajillo pepper, oregano, fresh basil, and several types of tea from Mexico.  
*  Listeria, foodborne bacteria that can cause stillbirths among pregnant women was found in frozen cooked crawfish from China, while it was found in mahi mahi ceviche, avocado pulp and “organic” zesty guacamole imported from Mexico.
*  Aflatoxin, a toxic substance which can cause liver cancer or cirrhosis was found on red melon seed from China and Japanese-style peanuts, pumpkin seeds and chocolate-covered mazapan from Mexico.
*  Nitrofuran, a suspected cancer-causing agent, was found in shrimp imports from China.
*  Pesticide residue was found on fresh ginger, frozen sugar snap peas, pea pods, frozen blackberries, ginseng powder, and lotus root from China. Fresh tomatoes, turnip greens, hot peppers, papaya, fresh squash, Japanese eggplant

Our present food inspection system for imports is being overwhelmed by the massive volume of imports and is failing to protect the health and safety of U. S. food consumers, plain and simple,” Stokes said. “In the rush to close American plants and eliminate American jobs in favor of offshoring, many large food companies are playing fast and loose with our lives,” Stokes added.

One glaring example is the Hershey Company of Hershey, Pennsylvania. Earlier this year Hershey announced it was eliminating 1,500 jobs while boosting production at its plant in Monterrey, Mexico.

The FDA OASIS (Operational and Administrative System for Import Support) refusal reports show five shipments of Hershey candy from Mexico was blocked in March, 2007 due to salmonella contamination. Another shipment from Hershey’s Mexico plant was blocked for salmonella contamination last January. The shipments contained Hershey “Kisses”—an iconic brand of American candy. A report by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states salmonella is the leading cause of death (31%) among foodborne illnesses in the United States. The size of the salmonella-contaminated Hershey Kisses shipments could not be determined from publicly available reports.

While Hershey is a well-known brand name, potential food poisoning through sweets exported to us from Mexico, is in fact, a major problem.

A Coalition for a Prosperous America analysis of FDA refusals from Mexico in the past year shows a whopping 8,969 cases of candy treats, including lollipops, gummy treats and hard candies were blocked from import because they were “filthy,” contained color additives unsafe for consumption or were deemed “poisonous.”

FDA records show eating shrimp from Mexico is playing roulette with your health, too. In August of 2006 91 cases of Mexican shrimp were refused due to salmonella. That dangerous pathogen was found again in 56 cases of shrimp exported from Mexico to the United States in November of 2006. One attempted shipment of swordfish from Mexico was refused because it was “poisonous.”

Hershey isn’t the only major U.S. company that has attempted to import food or pharmaceutical products which were refused by the FDA. Pepsi-Cola, Abbott Laboratories, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive are among the companies experiencing FDA import rejection on their products from Mexico since June of last year.

China’s food exports to the United States have been in the spotlight recently due to the melamine poisoning of thousands of U.S. pets. There has been less media attention, however, to dangerously contaminated seafood imported from the People’s Republic of China.

Examples include salmon (Filthy) flounder fillets (Filthy), frozen raw squid (Salmonella), frozen cod fillets, (Filthy) catfish (Veterinarian Drug Residue), fantail shrimp (Nitrofuran—an antibiotic) and frozen scallops (Filthy). In most of these cases the FDA does not list the size of seized shipment so the scope of the dangerous seafood imports is hard to gauge.

American consumers need to realize that Food and Drug Administration inspectors, by the agency’s own admission, only examine about 1.5% of all imports. Clearly, tons of contaminated food is entering our country and it is being consumed by the American public.   

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate “foodborne diseases cause approximately 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths in the United States each year.”

The Coalition for a Prosperous America thinks its time to demand drastic action to insure the wholesomeness and safety of food being imported into the United States. Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), which is being fought by “Big Agriculture” is a vital tool but by no means is it a panacea.

Americans should demand that Congress and the Administration take immediate action to suspend food imports from China and Mexico until they prove—at their expense—that their food products are safe to eat and drink. The Coalition for a Prosperous America believes it’s a matter of life and death.


The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) is working for new and positive trade policies that deliver prosperity and security to America, its citizens, farms, factories and working people.
 
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