Recently there have been many headlines about problems with meat in China. While China has food safety rules, they are often not followed or companies don’t even know them. Wal-Mart buys a lot of meat products from China and has therefore suffered from some of these violations, both in China and the US. Some major restaurant chains have also been caught in the crossfire.

Examples cited are that DNA tests have shown that meat passed off as lamb contained fox or rat meat. Meat labeled as mutton was actually 95% duck. Wal-Mart in China had to recall donkey meat because it contained large quantities of fox and other animals. This is a frightening thought to me. And what’s up with donkey meat?

I have not eaten any red meat, venison, sausage, cold cuts, or processed meat of any type for over 30 years. The exceptions in my diet are: I eat chicken and turkey, usually in the native form where I recognize the actual animal. However, I have made exceptions when eating chicken strips or nuggets, or chicken in Chinese food. My only “processed meat” exception is pepperoni on pizza.

So, overall, this news about tainted meat from China does not affect me too much – but just writing this has made me think hard about chicken in Chinese food. How do I know that Chinese food chicken isn’t actually rat, fox, cat or dog?

I don’t!

Maybe it’s time for a change.