TRADER JOE'S to cut imports from CHINA

[lame54]

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/health/612152,CST-NWS-CHINA20.article

Trader Joe's just says no to China

October 20, 2007
BY STEPHANIE ZIMMERMANN Consumer Reporter [email protected]
Trader Joe's, the hip, wholesome food store with 15 locations in the Chicago area, said Friday it will phase out foods imported from China amid concerns that standards on "organic" products from the country aren't as stringent as they should be.

Alison Mochizuki, spokeswoman for the Monrovia, Calif.-based grocer, e-mailed a statement saying the grocer will phase out single-ingredient products from mainland China by Jan. 1.

Trader Joe's will be phasing out all foods made in China from stores in Chicago and around the country.
(Thomas Delany Jr./Sun-Times)

"We feel confident that all of our products from China meet the same high quality standards that we set for all of our products," the statement read. "However, our customers have voiced their concerns about products from this region and we have listened.

"We will continue to source products from other regions until our customers feel as confident as we do about the quality and safety of Chinese products."

Trader Joe's is owned by German billionaires Karl and Theo Albrecht, who also own the Aldi food chain.

The change apparently does not affect products containing multiple ingredients, of which some may be from China. Mochizuki declined to comment further.

Whole Foods has no plans to stop selling single-ingredient products from China, which make up "a very small percentage" of the grocer's private label products, spokeswoman Kate Klotz said in a prepared statement. The company has processes in place to ensure quality, she said.

Trader Joe's move follows criticism of what's perceived as gaps in the system for verifying organic imports.

China has been faced with a number of exporting scandals recently. In addition to lead-laden kiddie jewelry and toys, Chinese manufacturers have been blamed for selling pet food tainted with the industrial chemical melamine and for exporting contaminated toothpaste. China also famously exports counterfeit consumer goods, from fake designer handbags to phony computer software.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5561565665179751904

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JE8cVV6NGxM

[onehandle]

1. Ban Chinese Imports!

Good for them. Deny our future masters.

[Deja Q]

2. If China wants to be part of the world economy, surely they need to do their part?

Their "Communist" government has no qualms allowing lead, melamine, and antifreeze being used... never mind the sheer quantity of pirated software (anyone in the Business Software Alliance should be appalled at China if they are serious about quelling software pirates)

[lonestarnot]

3. Who flung dung?

[Deja Q]

15. Hu?

:hide:

[Double T]

4. china business is as crooked as corporate america..........

and no one should trust ANYTHING they say or do. Wish there was a Trader Joe's in my area so I could patronize their business.

[Booster]

5. OMG. SOMEBODY is listening. Way to go, Trader Joe.

[Cha]

19. Exactly! And we know Trader Joe's

is HUGE..China needs to get on the stick or suffer the econominc consequences.

I was surprised to learn that Trader Joe's wasn't owned by a guy name Joe, though.

[Booster]

21. Well, at least it's not owned by a guy named Sam as in WalMart.

[Cha]

26. Actually I hear Sam was a man

of decent principles but it got diluted down the line with assholes.

[Booster]

32. I believe you're right. It seems his children missed out on getting

the "good" genes from Sam, and only got the "greedy" genes. I don't think Sam would approve of the way a lot of Walmart employees are treated now.

[robinlynne]

23. It was originally, but he sold it.

[Cha]

27. Oh yeah! I was just

playin' around. :)

[lame54]

33. it originally was

joe coulombe started it in the late 60's
he sold it in 1979

[Annces]

6. Good for them n/t

[City Lights]

7. Great news from TJ's.

:woohoo:

I just wish there was one closer than 40 minutes away from here.

[The Cleaner]

8. Why they haven't expanded into Texas I have no idea.

Love that store but none here in North Texas. I KNOW they would do well in Austin too.

Hey Trader Joe, if you are watching, come to TX!

[Vanje]

11. No Trader Joes in the Wide-Stance State either

We have to take periodic trips to Oregon or Washington to get what Joe has for sale.

[Quantess]

24. Trader Joe's started in California.

I was excited when they opened stores in Oregon. There's one close to my house here in WA.

[never_get_over_it]

38. I miss Trader Joe's

I moved from Northern VA to central FL - no Trader Joe's in FL - BUT I'm going to NC in a couple of weeks and actually decided to drive so I could make a trip to Trader Joe's and stock up....was very glad when Trader Joe's showed up near my niece's house in Charlotte....next best thing to have TJs right here in my own backyard....

[lame54]

43. It could happen

It's been tough opening stores in Georgia...a lot of different acohol laws..North Carolina has been easier.
patty lame's wife

[lame54]

45. you can let them know

at TraderJoes.com-They really do read their mail. Transplanted customers from California wrote letters and sent e-mails and now we have five stores in the Atlanta area. We work at two of the stores- we moved from Ca with TJ's now there are two more hippies in GA :)
Patty lame's wife

[momster]

9. Gotta Read the Labels

We changed apple juice brands after 10 yrs because I finally read the label -- not that they made it easy to do so, black printing on dark red label. We've also started paying attention to where our fish comes from as well as fruit. If anything says China, we put it back. The hardest thing is to find clothes that are not made there.

[adadem]

13. Yesterday at the fish counter

A woman ahead of me asked to see the box that the fish came from before she would purchase.

Smart...I did the same following her lead.

[Critters2]

28. I buy most of my clothes secondhand

often times at charity thrift stores, or church rummage sales. I find nice things, the price is right, and even if they were originally made in China, my money isn't going to support slave labor and abusive labor practices.

[rucky]

10. I love me some TJ's.

The only non-union grocery that UFCW doesn't touch. Why? They give their employees fair wages and benefits.

[FreakinDJ]

12. Trader Joe's looking like a good - safe place to shop

[lateo]

14. I can't wait unto we get a TJ here.

[SnowGoose]

16. How important is this?

How many "single ingredient" products are there? Even the dried fruit often has a little ascorbate or sulfur in there to keep it from getting brown. This would be considerably more meaningful if it wasn't limited to single ingredient products. Simply putting salt in peanut butter from China doesn't mean it's not full of aflatoxin.

BTW, if you are what you eat, Mrs Goose and I are about 70% Trader Joe's. In the last few years of having TJ's our first grocery stop we've had exactly two products we weren't pleased with - a milk that was sour and a key-lime pie that was like... um, being "lime-boarded". The latter was probably just a matter of taste - I expect some people can take that much lime, we're just not used to it.

Just a great place to shop ~ even the staff are cooler and seem happier.

[robinlynne]

25. true, but it is an improvement. SOme of their nuts and dreid fruits were labeled

organic and made in china on the packages. There is no such thing as organic and made in china. People started complainging. If a baker bakes bread and buys one ingredient from china, that will still be allowed. But at least those directly from china products will be gone.

[lame54]

34. glad you are at 70%

here are a few facts about TJ's products. If it has our name on it (yeah lame and I both work for TJ's :) You will find no preservatives, artificial dyes, artificial flavoring, or growth hormones. Whats on the label is what you get and we try to make it very easy to read and understand. Our label is very important to us and we dealt with the safety issues before any products were put on our shelfs. We are very selective when we choose products and companies, we actually have buyers who have quality and safety controls that have been way ahead of your normal grocer. We are not your average Joe. So you won't find peanut butter from China just because someone put salt from utah in it:) We used to work for Safe-way (over 10 years) and took a pay-cut three years ago so we could work for a company who had the same values we did. btw we are not corporate just working stiffs. patty lame's wife

ps- they treat their employees well with great benifits

[loudsue]

17. Chinese wheat gluten is also found in thousands of products we import...

and it has been shown to be tainted, also. Then, there was the toothpaste problem, and on & on. The bush administration has CUT the FDA down to where they are useless to protect Americans. The only people in charge of the FDA are corporatists, and that's where they get their "research", is from corporate masters. The fox is guarding the hen house, and there's a huge hole in the fence.

:kick:

[lame54]

37. you will be glad to know

That none of our products contained wheat gluten from China, but during the dog food scare we pulled all of our dog and cat food containing gluten off our shelves and had it independently tested. TJ's did this at it's own expense because they really care about their customers and would rather be safe than make a buck. Wal-mart on the other hand did buy from the company's that sold dog food containing the tainted gluten but had to be forced to take the product of their shelves.
patty lame's wife
ps no msg in our products either

[Pachamama]

18. Trader Joes' rocks!!!! Besides a fantastic selection of "fun foods" they have lots of organic and

reasonably priced foods! I can buy Organic Gala Apples from them for $.59 each (approx. $1.79 per lb). The cheapest I find at any store elsewhere for the same, if I'm lucky is $1.99 per lb on a special (if they happen) and usually atleast a $1 or more a pound! I can get Organic, Freerange Omega 3 eggs for $3.29 per dozen, which would cost me atleast $1 - $2 more elsewhere! I can get my kids their favorite Stonyfield farms squeeze yogurts for $2.99, the cheapest I find anywhere else is $3.99, and I've seen it as high as $4.99 each!

They have wonderful selections of nuts and dried fruits and even their pasta is $.79 per 16oz each. The cheapest you can find anywhere in our area at any store, including a safeway special, is for $1.19! And even Trader Joes sells a delicious Organic Tomato Marinara Sauce for Pasta at $2.29!!!! You might get the cheap non-organic at Safeway for that, if at all on a special!

Trader Joes....I hope that in times with grocery bills increasing that they keep on expanding across this country and helping Americans eat better, healthier and for less....

And finally - lets hear if for the "Two Buck Chuck"....It isn't the finest wine, but for $2, it is pretty darn good and they also have a good selection of other wines in the $5 range that are good.

:applause:

[JustAnotherGen]

20. Good for Trader Joes!

I live in the North East and shop a lot at Wegmans - because they do an excellent job of offering organic choices.

A few months ago I was labeled 'gluten intolerant'/celiac disease. Trader Joes has been excellent in helping me to 'round out' my diet.

On that note - one of the posters above noted that many foods have Wheat Gluten in it from China that is 'tainted'. Kind of makes me wonder - I didn't have this problem as a child as my mom was a Crunch Granola Hippy. :-) We didn't get fed a lot of processed foods. But as I've gotten older - and the imports have increased. . .

[Cleita]

30. I like their Estonian vodka "Black Sea". I keep it stocked for special occasions

to mix martinis with. It's as good as any fine Russian vodka and way cheaper.

[robinlynne]

22. right on. They are hearing us. cause otherwise i was going to stop importing from trader joes.

[mzmolly]

29. Bravo!

I hope others follow suit.

[Me.]

31. Good For Them

But is nobody in this country growing organic food? Why did we have to go to China in the first place?

[lame54]

36. yes but

there are some dried fruits like edemame and fish like tallapia that are pretty exclusive to Asia.
patty lame's wife

[Vinca]

40. Tilapia used to be farmed on Long Island and I used to buy it.

I won't buy tilapia from China.

[lame54]

44. sorry to hear that

but a lot of TJ customers want wild caught not farmed raised.
patty lame's wife

[SoCalDem]

42. Why? because...

China has no pesky "regulations", and their growers/pickers/packagers are slaves:(

[halobeam]

35. Let's all write to thank them! Here's the link!!

Got to give payback for ppl who have our backs... may encourage more companies to do the same!

http://www.traderjoes.com/contact_us.html

[CalebHayes]

39. Good for Joes

[MzNov]

41. One more reason to love TJ's nt