TODAY’S SPECIAL: FOOD STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

MYSTERY MEAT FROM CHINA

Most readers know that we live in a global economy. What happens in Brazil, Argentina or China ultimately impacts prices and supplies here. The supermarket where you shop may sell produce and meat from Chile, France, China, Argentina or any number of other countries.

China is the wild card in the mix now, having the world’s number two economy behind the U.S. China orders shiploads of soybeans and corn from us and floods our markets with clothing, cheap vitamins and seafood products.

Previously I have written about China’s lack of a regulatory agency comparable to our Food & Drug Administration (see OCJ, Jan. 2012), which safeguards our food supply. Now there is yet another food scandal in China, according to the South China Morning Post (May 3, 2013). Government officials have arrested several dozen Jiangsu gang members that were selling processed rats as frozen rolled mutton.

They purchased rat carcasses in Shandong province, and when rats weren’t available, they substituted fox, squirrel and mink carcasses. And, as one official was quoted, “Who knows what else.”

The meat was widely distributed in Shanghai, Jiangsu and other provinces from 2009 until February of this year. Another gang in Wixu added gelatin, nitrates and food coloring to make the meat look and taste like mutton. Sixty-three gang members were arrested. Officials seized 10 metric tons of processed rat carcasses and $12.5 million in cash from 50 processing sites.

In my trips to China, I’ve had some experience with a delicacy that has ended up at the center of food scandals: chicken claws. They’re jazzed up with cayenne pepper and make your lips and throat burn on the way in – and maintain the heat on the way out. When good chicken claws aren’t available, the void is filled on the counterfeit meat market by rotting chicken claws. Apparently, cayenne pepper kills the odor.

To date, 900 people have been arrested in 382 contaminated meat investigations since a crackdown began January 25 of this year.

Meanwhile, Walmart is working diligently to establish mobile labs to monitor quality of food purchased at Chinese processing plants. Walmart is attempting to ensure the products Walmart imports meet U.S. quality standards. Other grocery chains doing business in China are also looking askance at the latest food scandals. Author’s note. Chinese officials ramped up food safety standards significantly in 2017. Reports posted to me is that food in China now has a much higher degree of safety.

A NEW NICHE FOR DAIRY FARMERS: ’MAKE MINE A BLACK COW!’

New niches are being developed in the dairy business. As I tell my vet students, these niches are needed. The economics of dairy farming just don’t add up, no matter what math you’re using.

A few months ago I calculated for my vet students the economic reality of being a commercial dairy farmer. At the time, it was costing dairymen who purchased all their feed 38 cents to produce a quart of milk for which they’d be paid 32 cents.

Organic milk is a niche that offers slightly better economics, but is in a catch-22. Touted as being more healthful for you, organic milk is produced under the same milk quality standards as traditional milk. The difference is that organic dairy farmers, while commanding a premium price for their milk, aren’t permitted to treat sick cows with antibiotics or to use hormones to help their cows become pregnant. Organic-certified cows that become ill may be administered only herbs or other alternative treatments (not approved by the FDA) – but positively no antibiotics – to restore their health.

Organic dairymen must also abide specific standards regarding what they can feed their cows. Commercial fertilizers and pesticides cannot be applied to corn and soybeans that are grown to be fed to organic cows.

Another niche – the newest rage – is raw milk. Generally, raw milk is marketed to local consumers. Though the taste is often high quality, raw milk can be risky to consume. I believe that raw milk consumers fall in two categories:

1. Those who have contracted food poisoning from raw milk
2. Those who will contract food poisoning from raw milk

Now, here’s a new dairy niche that could take the edge off dairymen’s woes! A British dairy farmer, Jason Barber, has discovered a way to turn milk from his 250 grass-fed dairy cows into vodka. California may have happy cows. But England has at least one happy dairyman.

Separating the curds and whey, Barber makes cheddar from the curds. He won an award at the 2012 World Cheese Awards for his cheddar recipe. And he experimented three years to develop a method for fermenting the whey into milk beer and distilling the milk beer into spirits.

More experimentation led to his dairy version of Colonel Sanders’ recipe of 11 secret herbs and spices: the creation of Black Cow vodka, made from triple filtering the spirits. He found a creative way to diversify his dairy herd’s production and indulge his interest in vodka.

I think Barber and I should talk. His discovery fits in well with the philosophy of my dairy reference book Milk Them for All Their Worth!. I just need to add a chapter on spirits. Cheers!