HFCS mostly China made

beehappy1950 · August 27, 2009, 11:08:10 PM

I hear a lot of you guys talking about feeding HFCS so I checked it out on the net and I find that most of our corn syrup comes from China. I think I will stick to good old sugar and not let them Chinese poison my bees. They do spray pesticides everywhere over there because of no restrictions. Then I find out almost everything you buy off the grocery shelf has it. Hmmmmm. Wonder where it all come from. Anybody else have any say on this.

durkie · August 28, 2009, 01:12:31 AM

i think you're way off:

1) america is the world's largest exporter of corn
2) hfcs is only useful because it's cheaper than sugar. still cheaper after importing and transportation? unlikely.
3) many many groups would be up in arms about this - farming lobby, food/consumer safety groups, etc.

the whole thing makes no sense.

Bee-Bop · August 28, 2009, 09:11:52 AM

Can you throw out any validated sources about HFCS being mostly from China ?

Pretty hard for me to believe, with ADM & Cargill & ConAgra plants not that far from here.

Take some info. on inter-net forums with a grain or two of salt !

Bee-Bop

alflyguy · August 28, 2009, 11:04:33 AM

I took a quick look on the net and couldn't find any mention of HFCS being made in China. I did read that a lot of people think it's 'bad'. I've never used it for my bees. Right now I'm too smal to go to the trouble.

Rebel Rose Apiary · August 28, 2009, 12:05:42 PM

There might be more than a grain of truth to this product coming from China. China buys a lot of corn from the US....and I mean a LOT of corn. The costs for them to process the corn and other things is much less in China than in the US, so they can produce the same products (in many cases) for less money (even with the added costs of importing, etc.,) than what it costs for us to produce the same here in the US.

(There was a problem that I know about personally, many years ago with Nestle Foods buying some powdered eggs from China and they found rodent hair in the bags! Not just a small amount, but a major percentage of the eggs was nothing but rodent hair! The egg powder was destroyed and not used....and they never got any more ingredients from China again.)

The point is, that it costs less to import from China in many cases and this must not be dismissed as being a logical reason alone for thinking that just because a large company like ADM is down the road, that they will sell products cheaper..

There are many US industries that import products from China....as the cost is less than what it costs for the same US produced procducts. Drugs, plastics, food products are all using imported ingredients from China.....even the pet food industry suffered major losses when the pet foods contained toxins found in imported (from China) ingredients.

I DO NOT use anything imported from China myself if I can help it. Check the labels and decide what you want to feed your bees...my bees, animals and livestock are not getting anything that I would not eat myself.

Brenda

jimmy · August 28, 2009, 12:20:45 PM

I watch the tv station about China BIZ because in my travels it's one of the countries (,except for then British controlled Hong Kong) that I missed seeing in my travels. They have compeletly destroyed the bees with chemicals. In doing so they showed that the locals have to hand pollenate fruit trees with a feather on a stick. I found this of much interest ,we in America should take great notice .

iddee · August 28, 2009, 12:51:07 PM

That brings up another question. If they have killed off their bees and now hand pollinate, how do they export hundreds, maybe thousands, of tons of honey?

It sounds like our media is on it's one sided reporting. I just don't know which side.

diggity · August 28, 2009, 01:06:55 PM

And then there's this: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090826110118.htm

-Diggity

jimmy · August 28, 2009, 02:41:23 PM

Good point Iddee,it could be a regional bee loss . China has vast amounts of territory .

Rebel Rose Apiary · August 28, 2009, 04:31:52 PM

Quote from: iddee on August 28, 2009, 12:51:07 PM
That brings up another question. If they have killed off their bees and now hand pollinate, how do they export hundreds, maybe thousands, of tons of honey?

It sounds like our media is on it's one sided reporting. I just don't know which side.

China is a big country! In certain highly industrialized areas and places where the pesticides have been overused, the bees are gone....zip....not to be found. However, there are other areas of the country where there are large apiaries.....sp they do have honey bees and thus produce honey for export.

Now for the down side, as a large amount of the honey that has been eported from China, when tested, it is found that it is not all 'pure honey'. Much of the honey content tested out to be from corn products....artificial honey.

I am not out to be bashing China, or any other country for that matter, but when any country continues to export products to my own home country that are not what they are supposed to be, or that will harm either myself, my family or my livestock/pets....then I do some major research. Like I said before....read those labels and do not believe all that you read....search for tests on anything imported.

Brenda

annette · August 28, 2009, 05:23:32 PM

Quote from: jimmy on August 28, 2009, 12:20:45 PM
I watch the tv station about China BIZ because in my travels it's one of the countries (,except for then British controlled Hong Kong) that I missed seeing in my travels. They have compeletly destroyed the bees with chemicals. In doing so they showed that the locals have to hand pollenate fruit trees with a feather on a stick. I found this of much interest ,we in America should take great notice .

That is not all over China, it was in one area. I saw that documentary also. Oops!! Just read the whole thread and you all have mentioned this already.

Bee-Bop · August 28, 2009, 06:22:42 PM

The origanal poster say's;

" HFCS mostly China made "

Can I see some valid information on this ?

Being from the old school:
" MOSTLY " was more than half, with the inference of " ALL MOST ALL "

I've been wrong before !

Bee-Bop

tlynn · August 28, 2009, 06:32:04 PM

Quote from: Rebel Rose Apiary on August 28, 2009, 12:05:42 PM

I DO NOT use anything imported from China myself if I can help it. Check the labels and decide what you want to feed your bees...my bees, animals and livestock are not getting anything that I would not eat myself.

Brenda

Brenda, how do you stay away from made in China products? I have walked the aisles of Home Depot for example and can scarcely find anything not made in China. Or do you mean food products? I recently saw garlic bunches from China at the local vegetable stand and asked the owner about it and he said it was half the price of US garlic. Can you imagine, even with shipping halfway around the world? I fear this could be a trend and for one want no part of food from China. If people don't buy it they won't have a market here.

asprince · August 28, 2009, 07:29:41 PM

Quote from: tlynn on August 28, 2009, 06:32:04 PM
If people don't buy it they won't have a market here.

If we know what is good for us, we will continue buying from China.............or they won't loan us any more money! :)

Steve

Natalie · August 28, 2009, 11:32:29 PM

It seems most everything comes from China now but I will go without something if I cannot find it made here.
I had the same issue with garlic at our corner fruit stand, I asked about it and the girl there actually said that all garlic comes from China. I said is that what you really believe? Did you know that we have plenty of garlic growers in America and the owner is probably just getting it cheaper from China and she said no it all comes from China.
I never bought garlic again, choosing instead to plant some and I now grow my own.
I went that whole year without garlic while waiting for mine to produce.
I stopped buying apple juice a long time ago because I was having trouble finding any made that was NOT from China.
We have all these apple growers here and they cannot compete with China.
I can live without garlic and apple juice. The truth is that there are many, many things that we all can live without rather than buy from China.
I would rather pay twice the money for something on the shelf that is made here in America than the cheaper and questionable product sitting next to it.
I personally would avoid any and all food from that Country and don't see why we are supporting them rather than our own Coutnry.

beehappy1950 · August 28, 2009, 11:46:31 PM

Well, glad to hear from all you guys and gals on this subject. And yes I did more inquiry on this subject. I found that I didnt look quite deep enough and probably shouldnt have said mostly. I didnt find anything saying that a good amount doesnt come from there, and there were some good replies about the harmful stuff in corn syrup. But it was good to hear all the different thoughts on the subject. I thank all of you. Thanks Harold

bee-nuts · August 29, 2009, 05:22:44 AM

They don't have enough land to grow corn. They are crowded and that is why rice is there number one crop. They more than likely are in the top three importers of corn. Im guessing they maybe are the largest importer of corn syrup.

irekkin · August 29, 2009, 10:22:38 AM

give it up folks, the chinese have taken this country and never fired a shot. ya wanta know who's fault it is? next time you're in wal-mart look in one of their cheap chinese mirrors.

Rebel Rose Apiary · August 29, 2009, 11:51:47 AM

tlynn,

The garlic capitol of the world used to be Gilroy, California! You can drive within 20 miles of the place and smell the garlic! The Garlic Festival is great!

Like I stated before, IF we read the labels, then we are forewarned.....be it with food products, petfoods, bee feed/supplies, or the clothes we wear on our backs.....how many of us noticed that the bee suits, etc. are made in China? I wear a jacket that is made in Argentina....which to me is somewhat better than Chinese imports.

Even though I do try and watch carefully as to where I buy my suplies, etc. from, I accidently bought some 'cheap' priced foundation off of ebay.....that was from China....the shipping info said that it was from the US, but it was shipped to me directly from China! The waxed foundation had a chemical smell and the bees would not touch it, so I tossed it out. After two days of being in an open box (in the trash) the foundation was turned black~with a sickening smelling glue substance on it....nothing like wax at all....I wonder what would have happened if I had put the foundation into some of my hives?

Brenda

David LaFerney · August 29, 2009, 02:15:41 PM

Quote from: Natalie on August 28, 2009, 11:32:29 PM
It seems most everything comes from China now but I will go without something if I cannot find it made here.
I had the same issue with garlic at our corner fruit stand, I asked about it and the girl there actually said that all garlic comes from China. I said is that what you really believe? Did you know that we have plenty of garlic growers in America and the owner is probably just getting it cheaper from China and she said no it all comes from China.
I never bought garlic again, choosing instead to plant some and I now grow my own.
I went that whole year without garlic while waiting for mine to produce.
I stopped buying apple juice a long time ago because I was having trouble finding any made that was NOT from China.
We have all these apple growers here and they cannot compete with China.
I can live without garlic and apple juice. The truth is that there are many, many things that we all can live without rather than buy from China.
I would rather pay twice the money for something on the shelf that is made here in America than the cheaper and questionable product sitting next to it.
I personally would avoid any and all food from that Country and don't see why we are supporting them rather than our own Coutnry.

Unfortunately the federal Country Of Origin Law (COOL) exempts so many things from the requirement that it's almost impossible to tell where your food has been. Even meat is exempt if it is a component of a processed product or sold in a restaurant. Believe it or not some chicken is raised in the United States, slaughtered, frozen, shipped to China, thawed, processed, re-frozen, shipped back to the U.S. and then sold to consumers who have no way of knowing where it has been or how it was handled.

I wonder how that happened?