A word to the wise: don’t start an online petition the same week that your dishwasher breaks and your kids convince you (a former non-dog owner) to adopt a rescue dog! Needless to say, it’s been a little nuts in my house the past few days.
Seriously, though, I do want to apologize for going silent on The Lunch Tray this week, but I’ve been working very hard behind the scenes on the Change.org petition I launched on January 13th, along with Nancy Huehnergarth and Barbara Kowalcyk, to prevent chicken processed or slaughtered in China from reaching our supermarkets and school meals.
Amazingly, that petition now has over 155,000 signatures, with the bulk of those coming in over the holiday weekend and over 50,000 people signing just yesterday!
I want to thank all of you for taking the time to sign and share the petition, especially my fellow food bloggers who were kind enough to let their own readerships know about it. And I have to give a special thank you to Vani Hari, aka the Food Babe, for enlisting her enthusiastic “Food Babe Army” in support of the cause.
Of course, it’s great to see this petition go viral, but the real victory will be getting our lawmakers listen to and address our concerns. It’s my hope that with the overwhelming response this petition has received, the petitioned officials will soon engage in a meaningful dialogue with us on this issue.
I’ll of course keep you posted here.
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Peter Schaefferp says
Hi,
I hate to say it, but you folks have no prospects for success. The dominant ideology of the Obama Administration is rigidly tied to “free trade” and Open Borders. No single scandal, or combination of scandals, is going to change the fact that tainted chickens from China, are far less significant than the pursuit of the dream of a borderless world. Of course it doesn’t help that the Republican Party is closely tied to corporate interests that are eager to outsource every job from the United States and move all production abroad. If Obama actually opposed outsourcing and the hollowing out of America’s internal economy via free trade, then you folks might have a chance.
The sad reality is that you don’t.
Remember what your hero said in Berlin in 2008.
“”The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand. The walls between races and tribes, natives and immigrants, Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand,” he said.”
And in San Francisco (on Billionaires Row no less)
“So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, and they cling to guns, or religion, or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
A borderless world where objections to trade are associated with “bitter clingers” isn’t going to stop poisonous chickens.
Enjoy your dinner.
Thank you
Peter Schaeffer
Peter Schaeffer says
Sorry, my name is Peter Schaeffer not Peter Schaefferp