Favourite Books

  • The Green Mile
  • Animal Farm
  • Lord of the Flies
  • Lord of the Rings
  • To Kill a Mockingbird

Tuesday 15 January 2013

The Made in Diet

I tried very hard to let this slide...really, it started over a week ago, and I closed my eyes, and crossed my arms, I was not going to fall into the mess...but...I did!!
  I have started reading labels. Hola!!! WTF has happened in North America???I say North America, because  nothing seems to be made there at all. Do you realize we can't even make pickles in Canada? Yep, check your jars, maybe, just maybe, there is one company left here in this country, but India seems to be the pickle producing country, who would have imagined? Don't get me wrong, good for India, but.....do you really think they have particularly high standards when it comes to their factories. Would you care as much if what you were stuffing into a jar was simply going to get on a slow boat to a whole different continent? It's not like your family is going to be horking those pickles back, so who cares if there are some that drop on the floor, and go into the jar?
  Pickles are just the beginning, Tuna fish!!! Now, this is when I start to get choked, I hate most fish, but I LOVE tuna!!! So with the pickle madness ringing in my head, off to the store I go to get myself some canned Tuna, oooohhh, all excited, this will be two meals for me, and I am already planning what I am going to mix in with the Mayo. I see two different products, one is $1.89 and it is in a unrecognizable blue tin.."hummmm" says I, "not picking that unknown,likely from Timbuktu, "Oh, there is CloverLeaf, that's Canadian" more that 1$more,but..it's from my country. Guess what folks, it appears Tuna no longer is something processed in Canada, now CloverLeaf must go all the way to Thailand to get us Tuna!!
  I Googled our favourite Captain Highliner, that bugger has left the country. He decided that we should start eating Chinese fish. I suspect there may be a tiny little amount still done here on our shores, but...the majority is grown and killed in China. For goodness sakes, really!!!!No fish here?
  So, you can talk about your profits, and high costs of doing business here at home. These big companies packed all our food business off to exotic(and far less stringent standards) lands. The folks working for them are quite likely not making a huge wage, but they are making a wage. The company is saving tons of cash, even with the shipping, and....now we get to the strong point, the consumers get a cheaper product. What!!! When did that happen? I must have missed that great big drop in my grocery bill!So now, I am paying pretty much the same as before, for a product that I am very leery of consuming, and there are a bunch of Canadians without jobs, a bunch of folks in some far off country very happy to get diddly (because in their country, diddly goes a long ways) and the companies are rubbing their hands together with glee, and higher profits. They don't give a Rats A$$ if the pickles suck, or the tuna is filthy, they get their government approval because we apparently don't have enough inspectors, so they slap that mark on everything!
  Then we get the other crap!! You all know what I am talking about. Now, I am of an age that I remember things being made in Canada and the USA. We did get stuff from Japan, but that was the cheap stuff. We knew when we bought it we were gambling, it was cheap, and did not last very long, but sometimes(like a cap gun) it only had to last a couple of days, and we were happy. We had a choice, we could pay more and buy good quality, made at home stuff, or, we could dole out a tiny bit, and get something we knew would not last. The stuff back in the day, from Japan, lasted about as long as that wonderful wooden box of tissue wrapped Japanese Oranges. But, that was the difference, we had the choice!
  Now everything is made in China. Check it out folks, I mean everything! I can't afford stuff from Japan, it has improved immensely, now their cars are some of the best! But, China, helllloooo...absolute crap!! I am not on a rant against this country, They have outsmarted pretty much the whole damn world!!When I was a kid, they were the poor people, now they are buying everything in this country.
   I bought an oilskin Drover for my honey. I checked on-line, searched a ton of stores, found one that was sold in a fairly famous Calgary Stampede  store. Hey, Cowboys buy their stuff, must be good, right? It had this name..."OutBack Trail" hummm..that sounds pretty darn Australian, right? They are the folks who made that stuff famous, right? I dished out over $200 for this item, bought it on-line, order was taken immediately, Cha-ching! It arrived, and felt funny, but, hey, maybe this is something new and improved? Nope..My man put his hand in the pocket, a week after purchase, the dog leash on his wrist, the dog shook his head, my honey's hand moved in the pocket, and it ripped down one side. Holy Cow!! This thing claimed to have 4 rows of stitching, very durable, you can wear it riding, you can wear it in the brush, crumb you could probably pitch it in some trees and use it for a tent, in the monsoons. Now, written in very small letters on the white tag, under the nice leather tag that said OutBack Trail, was the tidbit, "made in China". I e-mailed the store, no answer, e-mailed again, no answer, e-mailed a 3rd time, because, folks, I know a phonecall is not what these people want from me, I am ticked, and I tend to foam at the mouth, say one curse word, and they have the right to hang up on me. So, I go a step further, I e-mail the company. They answered me, alright, told me that I could simply sew the pocket back on, and if I wanted a product to help with the waterproofing, i could purchase it from the same store I bought the jacket!!!
  Yep, this is where we have got to. We pay a pretty penny, for a bunch of garbage, that is made in another country, and no one seems to give a crap when it falls apart! I had to work 2 days to pay for that coat!! It took me that long,because I have to pay taxes, to keep my economy on the right track. I understand, maybe Unions asked for too much, maybe workers wanted higher wages, and maybe the company wanted more profit. But, ultimately sending all our business off-shore has started our slide down into the toilet of third world living.
  When I get notice of Chinese products killing pets, and Chinese products having lead paint, I have to ask the question, what the heck does Chinese fish have in it? Their freaking oilskin is likely a by-product of either the fish or maybe an orange, I hope it is the orange, because the fish are fed crap that has been outlawed in our country years ago. I have to wonder, maybe they are feeding us plastic as well, maybe in a few years, Canadians will start kicking the bucket because they ate fish? They (Canadians) will be naked, as their clothing will fall apart, and they will not have a job, so no new clothes. They will either get sick from eating, or too broke to eat, and very cold, because they don't have clothes. Their rights will be taken away, to ensure the Chinese can take over all the natural resources (really, that is what I believe is happening), and they will slowly die off. No problem, lots more to fill their spots.....
  Again, let me state, I am not against China, well, maybe I am. I am against anyone who does not allow free speech, I am against anyone who does not like rules, I am against anyone who does not allow equality to race, sexuality, or religion. Does any of this sound familiar?
  I never claimed to be politically correct, I am simply spewing what I think, my personal opinion, and my personal belief. Sometimes, I just feel the urge to purge, and I really don't give a crap if it offends, it feels far to good to get it out of my system.
  Now, back to my diet....Not sure what I can eat..Peanut butter? Better check that label!!

1 comment:

  1. It really is scary when you think about it isn't it? Makes me crazy too. What really bugs me is if the food products are processed in another country but packaged in Canada they are allowed to write Product of Canada on the packaging! Wtf !

    Great post, thanks

    ReplyDelete