NOT REAL MEAT?!

I am the self proclaimed most carnivorous man in America, and maybe the world. I love eating meat, and I always have. I shun any notion of ever becoming a vegetarian, or a vegan. I'm not knocking those who are. But, it's just not for me. I am also a renaissance man, so I am not totally adverse to trying something new. Especially when my wife insists on "meatless Monday's". It's only 1 day out of 7, and I find that if I use my imagination and put enough hot sauce on my egg plant it tastes just like steak, and its not half bad. Like the saying goes, "happy wife, happy life".
I must admit that like most people I rarely give a second thought as to where the meat that we eat comes from. U just take for granted that it is what the label says that it is. That is until I read this story.

More than 900 people were arrested in the past three months for selling fake or tainted meat in China, officials said.

The arrests were part of a national crackdown on "deep-seated food safety problems" that need to be addressed, an official, whose name was not reported, told China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

Officials said they discovered nearly 400 cases of meat fraud and seized more than 20,000 tons of fake meat.

Authorities discovered cases in which suppliers used hydrogen peroxide to process chicken claws, and others injected water into meat to increase its weight.

In one case, suspects made fake mutton using meat from foxes, mink and rats after adding chemicals.

"The products were sold to markets and the suspects made more than 10 million yuan ($1.62 million) from the illegal activities."

An official said investigators will now focus on dairy products after a high-profile case in which melamine, a compound used to make resins, was found in baby milk formula.

You may ask yourself, "what does fake meat in China have to do with us here in America?" I'll answer that question by asking a question. Pick up a few things that happen to be close to you and look at the bottom. Where were they made? Was at least one of the items made in China? I'll bet there was at least one.

Last year alone the United States has imported $29 Billion in products from China, and we're on track to exceed that amount this year. Although I was not able to find any proof that some of Chinas "fox, or mink meat" has actually made it on to U.S. shores, whose to say that it hasn't. One thing is for sure. I will never look at another piece of meat the same way again. At least not for the next week anyway.

PR