Trader Joe’s to Ban Foods From China

Trader Joe’s markets will be banning certain food products from China by April 1 of this year, citing concerns about the safety and quality of Chinese food products.

Remember the recent pet food scare? Chinese food products apparently may also contain antibiotics not allowed in human food, and toothpaste from China has been found to contain a chemical used in antifreeze.

Rather than attempting to determine which products are safe and which are not, Trader Joe’s has opted to take a customers first attitude in removing all single-ingredient Chinese products from their shelves. There has apparently been no indication that foods that Trader Joe’s has carried have had contamination issues, but their customers are concerned regardless.

Included in the Trader Joe’s ban are single-ingredient items such as garlic, frozen spinach, ginger and edamame. Items that include products from China in their ingredients will apparently not be banned.

According to USA Today’s sources at the Agriculture Department, China supplies less than 1% of the USA food. Still, 4 of the 8 imported food recalls since December 1, 2007 have been from China. Also recalled were products imported from India, Mexico and Turkey according to USA Today.