Chinese Chicken May Be Coming Soon

When I think Chinese chicken — I think a chicken entree that you order at a Chinese restaurant … not imported U.S. chicken that has been processed in China and then returned as retail product to the United States.
However, if things go smoothly with the last stages of USDA review process China will soon be given the okay to import U.S. chicken and then send the fully cooked processed products back to the U.S. for sale.
This has been a long time in review and rule making beginning in 2004 at the request of China —- since that time Congress both banned imported processed poultry products and then three years later lifted the ban. Last year following a audit of China’s poultry processing system the country now meets the U.S. standard for equivalency and is approved for exporting processed chicken.
Food Safety Inspection Services uses a comprehensive, three-part system for both establishing initial equivalence and ensuring the ongoing equivalence of countries that export regulated products to the United States.
The product will be labeled Made in China. USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services’ Dr. Daniel Englejohn shared in a recent special congressional hearing
Englejohn: “The product would come back here, in consumer ready packaging as a cooked consumer-ready product and the likelihood of that being taken and ground up or added to other products domestically we think is low likelihood. It could happen - but we think it wouldn’t be the case.”