I found the following article online and it really epitomized the Chinese mentality to me: Do whatever to get maximum output. There is a fact that is left out of the article though, the fact that the workers can completely debone a chicken foot in 4 seconds. Give any chef in the world a chicken foot and i can guarantee that if they even knew how to tackle it, it would take them at least 10 minutes. Speed is the key being that they get paid per foot deboned. Im sure that you are all disgusted by the fact that there were traces of saliva and Hepatitis on the produce. However, i can assure you of this, once the inspector has either been paid off and passed the factory with government certificates, i promise you that the workers will rip off their gloves, put the knives to one side and start gnawing away again. The frozen packs of chicken feet that you see in China town probably come from the same factory (closing a factory in China is only a PR thing, money can buy anything). How can this product get into the UK, well like most 'exotic' products from China, dried scallops, sharks fins, dried abalone, bleached flour, they are barred from entering the UK. However, if a Chinese supplier was to bypass UK importation law non EU countries by delivering to Holland first (all European goods coming into the UK usually get held up at the major ports in Holland before being allowed through the boarder) the UK have very little problems with permitting its entrance into the country considering that it is a delivery from a 'fellow EU country'. My opening statement epitomized the Chinese mentality to me as these rules on trade epitomize the British mentality; if you cant see the problem, it doesn't exist and therefore there is no problem to fix. Can hepatitis be removed from heating a product?? my guess is that it probably can, therefore finding traces of it on the raw product do not in fact lead to the conclusion that it is present in the packaged goods.
Well, make your own decisions, im going to keep on ordering them and more to the point, continue to research their uses in the search of my perfect chicken foot dish, sorry i meant 'phoenix claw.'
CHINA: Processing plant closed after workers found deboning chicken with their teeth
By: just-food.com editorial team | 5 August 2002
Health officials acting on a tip-off raided a food-processing plant in the south-western city of Chengdu last week, to discover that workers were using their teeth to debone chicken feet of meat intended for sale to restaurants.
The officials' report explained that they entered the plant to find two women gnawing at chicken claws beside a basket full of bones.
One worker told the officials that the act of deboning by teeth was an efficient procedure. Common practice at the plant was for workers to half-boil the feet in water, slit along three spots with a knife then remove the bones with their teeth. It only takes four to five seconds for a fast worker to debone one foot, meaning that it is possible to "process" over 100kg of chicken feet every day.
The officials have now closed the plant however and are trying to locate its owner. They confiscated over 250kg of chicken feet after discovering traces of saliva. Some of the workers carried Hepatitis B, which can be spread by body fluids.
The officials' report explained that they entered the plant to find two women gnawing at chicken claws beside a basket full of bones.
One worker told the officials that the act of deboning by teeth was an efficient procedure. Common practice at the plant was for workers to half-boil the feet in water, slit along three spots with a knife then remove the bones with their teeth. It only takes four to five seconds for a fast worker to debone one foot, meaning that it is possible to "process" over 100kg of chicken feet every day.
The officials have now closed the plant however and are trying to locate its owner. They confiscated over 250kg of chicken feet after discovering traces of saliva. Some of the workers carried Hepatitis B, which can be spread by body fluids.
