Matilda
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Post by Matilda on Feb 23, 2015 12:29:35 GMT 10
We must demand tighter scrutiny on the food coming from China. Personally I believe that until they can get their act together and we can know for certain that our food is not being grown/washed in fecal matter or grown in contaminated soils we should stop all imports from China. Give our Farmers a chance! We could feed the world with our soil, clean water and strict regulations. Our mineral wealth is evaporating but farming could fill the gap - not just for a 10 year cycle, but for hundreds of years into the future.
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Post by throwingbrick on Feb 23, 2015 13:28:37 GMT 10
Mineral wealth is winding down a bit but not stopping, the boom is over but the large mining exports are nowhere near their use-by date for a good 20 years more, farming and mining/ plus solar and hydro energy should be what our gov should put emphasis on over other exports and commodities.
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Matilda
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Post by Matilda on Feb 23, 2015 13:56:45 GMT 10
Hydroenergy - but we should have dams across Australia. Son works in mining and he tells me that too, but a lot of mines are closing down in NSW or laying off miners due to drop in coal and iron ore price. China has been storing their (our) coal in vast undersea vaults for years. Too many eggs in one basket me thinks. Clean water and food and we are positioned far enough away from any nuclear fallout too, although Lucas Heights is nuclear medicine though.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Feb 23, 2015 14:09:33 GMT 10
OMG!
I agree totally with Frosty - grow as much for yourself as you can, because that's the only way to be truly sure. How crap has the would become?
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Matilda
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Post by Matilda on Feb 23, 2015 15:02:47 GMT 10
About 12 months ago I developed an infection centred around my liver. Every single symptom for Hep A I presented with. I had numerous blood tests, scans, X-RAYS, even an MRI. They even checked if I had picked up something from our new rescue cat. After many months, I slowly had my liver levels return to normal. He even tested me for liver cancer. I'm all fine now, except I get bouts of feeling bone tired and that can last a day and the next day I'm fine. You just never know and although I always check the country of origin especially after seeing Dick Smith hold up a bottle of asparagus with bugs floating in it, something like frozen berries from a reputable brand would not be on my radar. But it will now. I've been buying SPC tinned fruit for our stores and I looked carefully over the tin I picked up the other day. The cherries and pineapple in the fruit salad was imported. I might go back and order the Austbuy booklet for Aussie food growers. Last time it was out of stock and until now I had forgotten about it. I believe they were trying to develop an App. too. PLEASE NOTE! Ausbuy now have an app. You can download it from their website or thru the Apps Store. www.ausbuy.com.au/
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Post by Peter on Feb 23, 2015 15:30:35 GMT 10
I have suddenly lost my desire to visit China.
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Post by Fractus on Feb 23, 2015 15:58:13 GMT 10
I will never look at deep fried chinese food the same. I don't want to believe it. It is so disgusting.
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Post by Fractus on Feb 23, 2015 16:01:48 GMT 10
About 12 months ago I developed an infection centred around my liver. Every single symptom for Hep A I presented with. I had numerous blood tests, scans, X-RAYS, even an MRI. They even checked if I had picked up something from our new rescue cat. After many months, I slowly had my liver levels return to normal. He even tested me for liver cancer. I'm all fine now, except I get bouts of feeling bone tired and that can last a day and the next day I'm fine. You just never know and although I always check the country of origin especially after seeing Dick Smith hold up a bottle of asparagus with bugs floating in it, something like frozen berries from a reputable brand would not be on my radar. But it will now. I've been buying SPC tinned fruit for our stores and I looked carefully over the tin I picked up the other day. The cherries and pineapple in the fruit salad was imported. I might go back and order the Austbuy booklet for Aussie food growers. Last time it was out of stock and until now I had forgotten about it. I believe they were trying to develop an App. too. PLEASE NOTE! Ausbuy now have an app. You can download it from their website or thru the Apps Store. www.ausbuy.com.au/Many years ago I had the similar symptoms. Many blood tests revealed nothing but when I told the doc how sick I felt when I had a beer. They re-looked and said I had glandular fever. Not sure why they could not tell initially.
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Post by throwingbrick on Feb 23, 2015 16:44:18 GMT 10
I have suddenly lost my desire to visit China. If you can see the air it's probably a pretty good hint.
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Post by agriculturalprep on Feb 23, 2015 17:08:11 GMT 10
Okay, you all raise some points. But china is the worst of them so you know. I look at this stuff everyday of my life, we are pushed and challenged in Agricultural science to feed the worlds population sustainably, and its not an easy task. We look at all aspects, yes that makes me sick to look at, and Chinese producers cut corners more than anyone else in the world, especially when exporting. Look Im with frost, control it your self, grow as much as you can yourself and support local, food land in SA uses and advertise SA and Australian growers, so its an easy choice.
But I do not agree that anyone has a right to call the third world a shit hole, they didn't choose to be born there and just so you all know Africa will be the saving grace in Agriculture and feeding the world, if it doesn't collapse before hand. I understand what frostbite is saying but just choose your words dude, I lived in Uganda and traveled Africa, its not all like that.
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arkane
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Post by arkane on Feb 23, 2015 18:04:08 GMT 10
I have a slightly different opinion and here it is
How a place is rated has nothing to do with its location It has nothing to do with colour It has nothing to do with wealth or magic
It has everything to do with culture! Without the right culture nothing else matters
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Post by agriculturalprep on Feb 23, 2015 21:08:47 GMT 10
I completely disagree with you, absolutely there is shit people everywhere. But that is not why they are third world countries. Why are you are prepper? Its because you believe that SHTF in a first world country due to the fact there is a @#$% load of shit people here too.
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arkane
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Post by arkane on Feb 23, 2015 21:50:19 GMT 10
A country/village/family is the sum total of the quality of its people! If you import monkeys in manpants/women skirts you devalue the entirety of that place A single black sheep in the family devalues the entire family! Australia was doing well with its white Australia policy, it maintained a rich monoculture! Destroy that monoculture by importing incompatable people and you get all the benefits of a multiculture!
And yes we here in Aus we are slowly but surely falling into the cesspit of a third world culture! We should be exporting shitty people not importing them! and there supporters!
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Post by throwingbrick on Feb 23, 2015 22:00:45 GMT 10
A country/village/family is the sum total of the quality of its people! If you import monkeys in manpants/women skirts you devalue the entirety of that place A single black sheep in the family devalues the entire family! Australia was doing well with its white Australia policy, it maintained a rich monoculture! Destroy that monoculture by importing incompatable people and you get all the benefits of a multiculture! And yes we here in Aus we are slowly but surely falling into the cesspit of a third world culture! We should be exporting shitty people not importing them! and there supporters! You are right partly about the white Australia policy, it was effective but not at keeping a certain race or ethnicity out but more so keeping cultures and religions that can't assimilate to a new environment out. Any race and background of person with work ethic and honesty is welcome in Australia in my books aslong as they don't try to change the landscape to fit their belief but instead change their beliefs to fit the landscape.
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Frank
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Post by Frank on Feb 24, 2015 4:29:26 GMT 10
Ok, everyone needs to calm down abit. This place is to discuss prepping, not at each other and if it continues the thread will be locked.
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krull68
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Post by krull68 on Feb 24, 2015 8:02:31 GMT 10
I agree with Frank on this one.
I for one do not like to disparage an entire country based upon location. I will though mention that one of the reasons China has such low standards is the political ideology of its leaders. To paraphrase Scriptures here "When the righteous lead, the people prosper, when the unrighteous lead the people suffer."
Many countries were quite well off until certain "leaders" came to power, once that happened, the country went to pot.
People can only work within the framework of the country they live in, when a country has bad policies, bad practices will ensure. When a country has good policies, good practices will ensure.
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peter1942
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Post by peter1942 on Feb 24, 2015 8:12:01 GMT 10
Interesting to note how food from China has sparked conversation among many and yet how many of those same people are prepared to consume foods from many/most take-a-way establishments that use cotton seed oil.
In the eighties several shipments of Australian beef were condemned in Japan and the United States because of the chemical residues found in the meat which were because the cattle had been fed the waste products from cotton gins in NSW and QLD. I believe that it is now against the law to feed cattle the waste but it is alright for it to be crushed and the oils sold for human consumption. Same waste, same chemicals.
Cotton seed oil is sold in many supermarkets as a pure oil and is also contained in most other blended vegetable oils even if it does not say soon the label.
Another interesting fact relating to palm oil is that the human body is about 37.4 degrees. Palm oil does not melt until it reaches about 39 degrees so if you consume it instead of it passing through your system it hangs around vital organs such as the liver and kidneys and on females in particular has a tendency to enjoy areas such as the hips.
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peter1942
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Post by peter1942 on Feb 24, 2015 8:13:51 GMT 10
Australian beef has been rejected for export because of excessive residues of endosulfan, an organochlorine insecticide. A representative of the Australian Minister of Agriculture stated that high endosulfan levels in beef from farms in New South Wales and Queensland are most likely the result of increased cotton plantings and high pesticide use to control insects. Endosulfan residues can be found in cattle when pastures are contaminated by pesticide drift from neighboring cotton fields or when the animals are fed cotton gin trash containing the chemical. Cotton plantings are expected to increase by 25% this year, to approximately 547,000 hectares. The maximum residue level of endosulfan allowed in beef sold in Australia is 0.2 mg/kg, twice the international (Codex) level of 0.1 mg/kg. Some beef samples taken from affected properties in Queensland recently contained as much as 0.36 mg/kg, almost twice the Australian limit and almost four times the international limit. The Australian National Residue Survey has already targeted about 1,400 cattle farms as vulnerable to contamination from cotton spraying and the cattle raised on these farms are closely monitored for endosulfan residues. The government has proposed an increase in the number of targeted farms and that more information on use of endosulfan be provided to cotton and cattle farmers. The Australian National Registration Authority, the government body that regulates pesticide use, has called for reductions in endosulfan use and imposed some restrictions in an attempt to limit worker and environmental impacts. In July 1999, growers will be required to keep spray application records and limit applications to two per season for non-orchard crops. An earlier proposal to limit applications to "essential" uses was dropped after lobbying by growers, grower groups and commodity organizations. These latest incidents occurred at a time when the Australian cotton industry was about to launch its "Good Neighbors" environmental stewardship program. Cotton Australia, the cotton industry association, has proposed an auditing process that would award certification to farms meeting environmental standards set by the group. In 1996, approximately 23 farms in New South Wales and Queensland were placed in quarantine after inspectors discovered endosulfan in beef cattle at levels above the maximum residue limit, possibly due to grazing land that had been contaminated by spray drift. Lawyers for the farmers maintained that restrictions on endosulfan use issued by the Australian National Registration Authority were inadequate. Endosulfan has been banned and severely restricted in many countries around the world as governments respond to its acute human toxicity, and the high numbers of reported poisonings. It has been targeted for global phaseout by pesticide reform groups worldwide. In recent years, endosulfan has also been identified as an endocrine disrupting chemical. Australia has had other problems with pesticide residues in cattle. In 1996, newborn calves in Australia were found contaminated with hazardous levels of the insecticide Helix (chlorfluazuron) two years after cattle were fed cotton trash containing residues of the pesticide. Government inspectors believed that the pesticide was passed to calves through suckling. After finding high levels of Helix in the cattle, several countries suspended beef imports from Australia. Due to a drought in 1994, many Australian farmers were forced to feed cattle alternative feeds, which in some cases included cotton trash containing chlorfluazuron residues.
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peter1942
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Post by peter1942 on Feb 24, 2015 11:42:35 GMT 10
On the ABC farm program after the midday news to day it was stated that Australia had some of the lowest food standards in the world.
On the same farm program several weeks ago there was a discussion about 'truth in labeling laws in Australia'.
It was interesting to hear why some groups did not want the laws updated but none more so than the dairy industry. If the laws were strengthened then the word China would appear on all containers of dairy products as that is where all of the additives are manufactured. The same factories produce them that produced the ones that were responsible for the deaths of many infants some time ago.
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krull68
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Post by krull68 on Feb 24, 2015 17:21:18 GMT 10
Again, Peter, you hit the nail on the head. When evil rulers rule, people suffer.
Go to any country and you will find a certain level of corruption, regardless of which country you look at. Just some countries have more, and some countries are better at hiding theirs.
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