Citing bacterial and chemical contamination, China has halted imports from several U.S. meat processors, including Tyson Foods and Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation.
The move comes after a series of high-profile safety issues prompted other countries cut back on Chinese imports. The Associated Press frames it as retaliation -- which, to some extent, it might be, but that doesn't mean it's unjustified.
Industrial-scale factory farming in the United States is a viciously unhealthy practice on every level possible -- human, environmental, economic. (For thoughtful reports on US factory farming, see what the
Sierra Club has to say. For a bit more fun, check out The Meatrix. For a journalistic take, read Michael Pollan's "This Steer's Life".)
Dismissing China's decision as opportunistic face-saving is another way of refusing to look our own agricultural system in the face.
China fights back, goes after U.S. meat [Associated Press]
Image: The Meatrix
