Mushrooms from China

[CathyA]

Last night I was making a stir-fry. I only had a couple fresh mushrooms (and we like alot), so I grabbed a bottle of them I keep for times like this. I usually check the country of origin on all the food I buy, but I must have missed this. After I drained them, I looked at the label, and they were from China. Yuk. Makes me wonder where the fresh ones we buy are from?

[Merski]

DH checks all dried mushrooms and even fresh garlick to ensure they are not from china!

[SteveinMN]

I don't know if it's a national law, but in Minnesota, fresh products are listed with their country of origin. Even that's not a full solution, though, as, for example, fish caught off a dock in Alaska can be (and sometimes is) shipped to places like China for scaling/boning/cutting before it is shipped back to the United States. But it's a helpful start.

I've gotten to the point that I don't even like to purchase typically-Chinese ingredients like chili bean paste or oyster sauce from Chinese processors. Maybe I'm being too cautious, but every time I relent some, a news item comes along and rewards my vigilance. :(

[puglogic]

Thanks for the reminder, CathyA. I am buying dried mushrooms today (Costco sells a giant container that lasts us quite a long time) and want to re-check the country of origin. I know some of them were recalled last year, so we didn't dare, but it seems after a mess like that, they'd be more careful now. Maybe false logic but.....

[ApatheticNoMore]

Trader Joe's organic fresh white button mushrooms in the fridge (that yea need to be used!): they say "product of the U.S.A., so I think they are ok. Where in the U.S.A.? They aren't telling.

[CathyA]

Those jarred mushrooms I spoke of were from Marsh. So today, while I was at Kroger, I checked out their jarred/canned mushrooms..........China or Indonesia..........WTH???? Can't we grow our own in this country?
Where would I start, to voice my displeasure that all food isn't labeled as to the country of origin? (besides just the grocery).
I bought something (avocado? garlic?) a couple weeks ago and the sign over it said "local". But the label on the thing said "Mexico". I guess local means the Northern Hemisphere?..........or maybe the planet Earth?
And the frozen snow peas still say either China or Guatemala. At least they say where.

[SteveinMN]

Where would I start, to voice my displeasure that all food isn't labeled as to the country of origin? (besides just the grocery).
Well, probably with Congress (sorry) because it is (IMHO) a national issue and it is tangentially an issue of food safety. You also could write emails/letters to the companies which don't label their products and tell them that you won't buy their products because of that. I don't know as any of it will have much of an effect, but at least you'll feel better and will have expressed who you are through all of that. It's apparently enough of a rule that most things are labeled, but there seem to be some gaps/loopholes in the regulation. I'm thinking they'd be the ones to impose uniformity.


I bought something (avocado? garlic?) a couple weeks ago and the sign over it said "local". But the label on the thing said "Mexico".When I saw that the folks stocking the shelves couldn't spell the sign right when the product was right in front of them to verify the spelling, I gave up on what the sign says and just go by the product itself. There is the whole NAFTA "we're all one country now" thing, but Mexican anything would not be "local" to where I live unless the next nearest production facility were on Mars.

[CathyA]

Thanks Steve! Yeah, I figured also that the people stocking the stuff aren't necessarily caring if the sign matches the label.
Marsh, last summer, also made a big deal about "buying local". What a crock of manure. There may have been 1-2 items in the whole produce department were from the same state.....and for a short time only.