USDA’s Unsafe Chicken

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has rushed for the approval of an interim rule that will allow the US to increase poultry imports from China, whose imports have often been found contaminated. The chicken would be approved by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service before making it into grocery stores, but even areas of China that have experienced avian flu outbreaks would be allowed to export. Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, believes the new rule “smacks of political pressure”—the move was made only days after China’s President Hu Jintao’s visit to the US.