GRR. One more reason to despise WalMart. Bastards!

[konnichi wa]

Okay, I was in Walmart today, needed milk & a few other items---not enough stuff to justify the 60 mile drive to a decent grocery store, the WM is just 5 mi. away.

I wandered into the aisle with canned fruit, a product which I hadn't bought for many years but I noticed 'fruit salad' which I liked as a kid and figured what the hell, I will just get a can for something different.

Heading for the checkout, I decided to call home and ask my partner if we needed anything else while I was there. I mentioned the canned fruit and he said "be careful, I saw something on TV about that stuff coming from China"
I thought he was shitting me but I looked carefully at the label...and read "Product of Thailand"!!!

So I went back and looked at a bunch of other varieties (the fruit salad was the WM store brand), here is what I found
(I actually purchased these & brought them home, not to eat but to research) items with UPC:


GV Tropical fruit salad: 7874237124 Product of Thailand
GV Mandarin oranges: 7874209459 Product of China
GV Pineapple chunks: 7874236969 Product of Phillipines
Dole Pineapple chunks: 7874238090 Product of Republic of Phillipines
GV No Sugar added Mixed Fruits: 7874237061 NO Country of Origin on label!
I found a few others that I did not buy, from Mexico and Indonesia.

Now can anybody explain to me just how the hell it makes any kind of sense to import this stuff from Asia when we grow it in the USA????

:grr: :mad: :grr: :mad:
God I hate this kind of thing!!!!!!!!!

[Triana]

1. I'd like to see an explanation for that myself. Pfft. n/t

[konnichi wa]

2. I guess it's cheaper than getting oranges from California & pineapple from Hawaii

but good god how MUCH cheaper can it possibly be???
grrr

[Laelth]

17. Umm ... because they're not ripe here yet.

We live in a temperate zone. We can't grow the same crops year-round.

If you wait until later in the growing season, you can probably get all those crops from fields here in the U.S. They're just not ripe yet. Sub-tropical and tropical zones, however, can grow more produce year-round. Your average Walmart customer knows nothing about growing crops and expects those pineapple chunks to be available year-round. As such, Wal-mart gets them from whatever country can grow them and send them to market at the moment.

I hate Wal-mart too, but this thread is silly.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Triana]

28. That's simply a good argument for buying local, organic, in-season fruits and veggies..

...or at least in-season ones from the US. Forget the rest. And avoid Mal-Wart.

[Laelth]

31. Agreed.

But there is a very good reason that Wal-mart buys those products from other countries. They're simply not available here at this time of the year.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Hannah Bell]

45. wrong.

[konnichi wa]

39. Are you aware that the CANNING process preserves food?

:eyes:

[Why Syzygy]

3. Trade laws?

:shrug: Our food supply is a disaster.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x60341

[XOKCowboy]

4. WalMart used to be all about Made In America when Sam Walton was still alive

They've really gone to hell and taken us with them ever since.

[hootinholler]

29. They got so busted on that buy local made in USA campaign.

I'm not sure if it was during Sam's days or if it was after he passed.

-Hoot

[csziggy]

40. It was busted before Sam died by Wakeupwalmart.com/

Union Group Attacks Wal-Mart Over Goods Made in China
Topics:China | Labor Unions
Companies:Wal-Mart Stores Inc
By: AP | 31 May 2007 | 05:08 PM ET

Union-backed critics of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are using a made-in-America campaign started by late founder Sam Walton in the 1980s to attack the global retailer for buying heavily from China.

WakeUpWalMart.com unveiled Thursday what it called an effort to turn conservatives against the retailer with ads alleging Wal-Mart had turned its back on Walton's values since he passed away in 1992 by increasing its buying overseas.

In materials provided to reporters on the sidelines of a Wal-Mart media conference, the group included a 1985 press release from Sam Walton in which he criticizes the loss of U.S. jobs to imports and pledges to buy American-made products whenever possible to protect domestic manufacturing jobs.

"We can restore our manufacturing capacity, improve our national economy and renew our pride in American craftsmanship," Walton wrote in a March 1985 open letter that urged manufacturers to work with retailers to bring as many competitive American products to the shelves as possible.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/18967012

[XOKCowboy]

51. How does this bust Sam after his death?

Sam died in '92. He wrote that letter in'85. From what I've read about the Walton clan the old man built his business on MIA and believed in it. When the old man was gone then his billionaire kids decided they weren't rich enough and started what we know know as WalMart.

[4_TN_TITANS]

42. That Made In America bs was the most brilliant

bait and switch I think I've ever seen. I'm still amazed at how many WM shoppers still think that they are buying the occasional imported item when 70% of WM's inventory is imported crap.
Americans are "saving" the economy to death, many because they can't afford to shop elsewhere.

[blm]

46. That's what Poppy Bush and Jackson Stephens were working on in the 70s - they set up the first giant

step of the Global Fascist Agenda with their dealings between WalMart and Chinese industrialists. And to stay the course Stephens groomed and then kept Clinton on a short leash. Clinton would keep the agenda protected and on track.

[bbinacan]

5. Have you been to other

stores to see where their fruit salad comes from?

[konnichi wa]

6. No, not yet but I certainly plan to. I sort of hate to make a special trip

to do that...we will be needing to stock up in a few weeks, I'll find out then.
:hi:

[zorahopkins]

7. Grapes From Chile

I seem to recall a few years ago that there was a major outbreak of e-coli or salmonella or some such disease here in the USA that was caused by grapes from Chile.

Why can't we all eat locally-grown produce?

[imdjh]

10. I don't eat California oranges- because they are ridiculously expensive.

I eat Florida oranges when they are on the trees, same with grapefruit. I don't want a grapefruit bad enough to pay a dollar a piece for them. I eat Florida tomatoes in the winter and Tennessee tomatoes (Who knew?) in the summer. I do not eat foreign tomatoes, or any tomato that costs more than $1.50/lb. I eat Florida strawberries once a year, and none the rest of the year. I honestly don't know where my Romaine lettuce comes from, but I think it's USA.

I eat fresh pineapple about once a year, and canned in the cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving, but I never thought to check the label. I assumed it was from Hawaii or Puerto RIco.

I don't care where it's from though, I am not going to pay one dollar per, be it for oranges, grapefruit, apples, or anything other than avocadoes. Just not going to do it.

[piedmont]

12. Locally grown you say...

like spinach from California? I'm a big advocate of locally grown produce, but it can be unsafe too, depending on the procedures used to grow it.

[imdjh]

21. Some of our tomato fields look like photographs from a hundred years ago.

And some of them look like modern tomato farming. Every time I drive by those old looking fields, I look for the porta potties that are supposed to be available- and I don't see any.

[rabs]

37. The Chilean grape scare was a farce mounted by the FDA

The scare was in 1989 when Pinochet was still in power. The U.S. Embassy in Santiago received a phone tip that grapes being exported to the U.S. were contaminated with cyanide. In Chile it was suspected that whoever called was anti-Pinochet (by then half of Chile was anti-Pinochet) and was an effort to harm the economy. Whoever called succeeded beyond the most wild expectations thanks to the stupidity of the FDA.


(From a rapid google search "Chile grape scare")

========================

In early March 1989 someone created a scare that grapes from Chile imported into the USA would be contaminated with cyanide. On March 11, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) spotted three suspicious-looking grapes on the docks in Philadelphia, in a shipment that had just arrived from Chile. Two of the grapes had puncture marks … They were tested and found to contain low levels of cyanide.

The FDA impounded 2 million crates of fruit at ports across the country and warned consumers not to eat any fruit from Chile, which included most of the peaches, blueberries, blackberries, melons, green apples, pears, and plums that were on the market at the time.

The embargo severely damaged the Chilean economy. Over twenty thousand (20,000) Chilean workers lost their jobs, and the U.S. government was sued for US $330 million as a result.

“…It now appears that the Chilean Grape Scare of 1989 was a farce. The fruit producers claim that the suspect grapes were most likely contaminated … by the FDA itself.”

Because we are living in savage times, it is important to make the point: This is not a story invented by terrorist-enemies of the United States. It is documented by responsible American citizens who attempted to interview the FDA about that matter. The agency declined to be interviewed for that story, now written into and quoted from, the internet. Since the agency has never challenged it, nor used any of its massive resources to correct it, the only reasonable inference that can be drawn is that the story is accurate.

The image remains etched in my memory of the Chilean ambassador calling a “press” conference somewhere in the USA. He surrounded himself with several crates of the supposedly offensive Chilean grapes. To demonstrate his conviction that the grapes were innocuous wholesome food, he opened some crates, and popped grapes at random into his mouth, and ate them.

His method must have been very convincing. The embargo was effectively lifted soon after.

=========================

More on the Great Grape scare if you are interested.

http://volokh.com/sasha/grapes.html

[Fire1]

8. I think Dole is one of those corporations on the tax haven list.

Anyway, God Bless America!

[tsuki]

9. Dole recently shut down the Hawaiian operations for pineapple. Too expensive. nt

[jehovas_waitress]

Yes at least as early as 2000

I was on Oahu and was told by the driver that they get all their pineapples from Philippines.

[piedmont]

11. The tropical fruit salad I could understand...

depending on what's in it, it may contain fruit we don't grow much of in the US other than Hawaii. And here in the south it takes less fuel to get our pineapple from Central America than from Hawaii. But getting pineapple and mandarins from across the Pacific is wasteful, without even going into the issue of food products from China.

[imdjh]

18. I'm thinking that I am a consumer racist, elitist, or xenophobe or something

When I see crabmeat "Product Of Thailand" I don't buy it.
I find it disconcerting when I look on the back of a pack of medical supplies (surgical kit) and it says "Made In Thailand".

With the crabmeat it comes down to the fact that I can't figure out how you can get crabmeat to market from Asia in less time than a local store could consider safe to keep local crabmeat.

With the surgical kit, I don't trust Thai quality control. I would if those tools were from Switzerland. I wouldn't understand why we need tools from Switzerland, but I feel safe about Switzerland. I have no valid reason to distrust Thailand and trust Switzerland, except for the perception of greater government control and the value of well paid workers.

[HopeHoops]

13. WALMART IS EVIL!

Does that clear it up?

[stray cat]

14. Walmart was the only place open today who would put a new tires on my car on Memorial Day

after someone slashed my tires. Thank you Walmart and those working today so I could go to work today and tomorrow.

[cabluedem]

15. I wonder if they got paid OT for working on Memorial day? nt

[sharp_stick]

16. Really, the only place?

Are you in the middle of nowhere or fundie haven where all the stuff shuts on holidays? Here, in central CT, I saw an open Firestone, an open Towne Fair Tire and a wide open Costco.

[imdjh]

24. Why do you hate America?

Just kidding. But I do think stores should be closed on holidays, even if I did just go get a toilet seat at Walmart.

[emilyg]

34. I did my shopping at W-Mart today.

[cabluedem]

19. I got quite sick after eating WM canned oysters. They were from China too. nt

[rsmith6621]

20. And The DOLE PINEAPPLE...WARNING

.....Is synthetic pineapple.....they grow it like that fake crab shit....it aint real no more no matter what the can says....IT IS FAKE.


Also watch out for the date....we have opened up several cans this past year from WM and the fruit has been black.

[imdjh]

25. Synthetic pineapple? It grows with no skin and a hole in the middle, right?

[Motown_Johnny]

26. Komoboko is marketed as "fake crab meat," but it isn't. it is real food,

but it isn't crab. I guess someone thought it kinda tasted like crab and decided that Americans would not know the difference

[earth mom]

50. WTF?! What is synthetic pineapple?!

:wow:

Do you have a link so I can read more about it?

[Motown_Johnny]

22. It is always less expensive to import, because of the labor laws

It just makes more sense with non-perishables because you don't have to fight time when shipping.

If you get the chance to watch the documentary, "Broken Limbs: Apples, Agriculture and the New American Farmer" all your questions will be answered, and you won't like the answers.

http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/376844/Broken-Limbs-Apples-Agriculture-and-the-New-American-Farmer/overview

[NNN0LHI]

23. What make of cars do you and your partner drive?

[konnichi wa]

38. Toyotas. Made in Tennessee.

How is that relevant to food products?...we aren't eating the fenders.

[NNN0LHI]

43. Because I have noticed many of the same people who complain about Walmart tend to be anti-union

Your preference for non-union made Toyotas makes your attack on Walmart seem ridiculous to me.

Thats how it is relevant.

Don

[konnichi wa]

48. I think unions are a good idea gone bad but that opinion has nothing to do with my

comments about WM or my choice of cars. I couldn't care less whether the guy who makes my car belongs to one or not just so he isn't a fuckup.

[handmade34]

27. my gripe is pickles

and it's not just WalMart. Lately most of the pickles on the shelf are imported from overseas... ???? I know we grow lots of cucumbers

[chalky]

49. Speaking of pickles...ever seen the Walmart vs. Vlasic article?

"Indeed, as Vlasic discovered, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer relentlessly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us 'every day low prices.' It's the story of what that pressure does to the companies Wal-Mart does business with, to U.S. manufacturing, and to the economy as a whole. That story can be found floating in a gallon jar of pickles at Wal-Mart."

<snip>

"The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000 suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas."

read more:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

[Cass]

30. Its not just WalMart canned fruits that come from China.

I used to love canned mandarin oranges in my salad but when I checked out where they came from all the cans/brands in the grocery store say they come from China. I don't put the mandarin oranges in my salads anymore because of it. :-(

[donco6]

32. That's where ALL their food comes from.

One main reason I will never touch the food there.

[emilyg]

33. Check your grocery stores. Same thing.

[donco6]

35. NO - not the same.

I check the labels carefully.

[Canuckistanian]

36. Here's a story that defies belief

My in-laws were in Hawaii and bought some chocolate with macadamia nuts in it. They brought it back home and gave it to us for a gift.

The chocolate said "MADE IN CANADA". Then I realized the vast distances that this chocolate had travelled.

The macadamia nuts were grown and picked in Hawaii. They were then sent to our neighboring town (where there was a Hershey plant that I KNOW made the chocolate). And of course, the chocolate comes from cocoa beans grown in Africa.
And the sugar from either Florida or Cuba.

It was then shipped back to Hawaii. My inlaws buy it, then fly back to Canada with it and give it to us.

It was good chocolate, but to get to us, the ingredients had been shipped from FOUR different countries to the mid-Pacific and then back to eastern Canada. Ironically, only 20 miles from where it was MADE.

I thought it was bizarre.

[sarcasmo]

41. The sad thing is you have to really look to find out where something is made.

It should be stamped right by the label.

[WildEyedLiberal]

44. Because you can't beat and starve farmers in the USA, and therefore their crops are more expensive

Human rights go straight into the toilet as soon as "free market" libertarian goons lift restrictions on capitalism and trade. They get in the way of the "market."

[deaniac21]

47. They turned me into a newt!