Smuggled Chicken [General]

2011 Feb 19
I wonder what large corporation was going to buy this chicken and try to make a buck off of it.
www.ottawacitizen.com

2011 Feb 19
I also saw that article and found it very disturbing.
Do you think it would be a large corporation? I'm thinking it would be something smaller.
Has anyone ever heard of this before?

2011 Feb 19
I'm a little surprised at the 'large corporation' comment myself, I doubt very much that any big business would feel the need to buy contraband anything..

Big box restaurants buy enough bulk to buy @ very reasonable rates to keep other business' in business & help employ millions of people.

I don't think you'll don't find illegal smokes @ Loblaws!


2011 Feb 19
On the one hand I doubt a big business is dumb enough to do this - on the other hand there are plenty of examples of them doing it. Taking smokes as an example, the big cigarette companies were enabling the smuggling that was going on in the late 90s. There are lots of other examples of large corporations doing cuthroat, illegal things to maximize profit. That's only one example.

But 810kg hardly seems like enough of a motive for them. I'd guess it more likely that an individual did this and was going to try to sell it to a smaller operation, without the knowledge of that operation that it was illegal.

2011 Feb 19
Is it possible that this meat could have been used for animal feed?

2011 Feb 19
I bet it's a smaller restaurant. I used to hear rumours about chefs sneaking onto Manderley Golf Course at night to take ducks...

2011 Feb 19
Of course, 810kg could have just been one shipment ... know your farmer and you don't have to every worry about eating that stuff.

2011 Feb 19
I based my comment on the size of the shipment. Seems like a good amount of meat. Hard to imagine it being split up. I guess a small restaurant could handle that much chicken. My point is that the police did not mention the destination. We will probably never know. I agree with Zym know where your meat comes from. Hard sometimes when dinning out though.

2011 Feb 20
Does anyone really believe that a restaurant of any kind would take a chance on chicken that's stamped 'inedible for human consumption'? With the amount of deseases that are associated with chicken I would think that killing your clientelle doesn't sound like a solid business plan. It's not like chicken is so expensive that you would NEED to do such a thing. If you believe this why would you ever eat anywhere outside of your own home?

I agree with Zym about tobacco companies aiding the cigarette smuggling but it's not like the smugglers had a deal with a large corporation to sell their booty although they may have with smaller independent convenience stores.

Blubarry; honestly, if anyone is sneaking on to golf courses to take ducks I doubt it would be a 'Chef', maybe farmers from the area for personal consumption but it just isn't worth the trouble for a restaurant to catch, kill & clean any kind of wild game.


2011 Feb 20
OK Terry I stand corrected. maybe it was a cook, not a chef :)

2011 Feb 20
Article said: "Police seized 11 vehicles, two trailers, eight grams of marijuana, Oxycodene, around 36,000 bags of cigarettes and cartons ..."

What only 8 grams of pot ?

Probably the crumbs left in the smugglers truck after returning from a run TO the US, with a wack of BC Hydro or Quebec Gold.


2011 Feb 21
I wasn't thinking of a restaurant buying the chicken, you're right poisoning clientele very bad for business. It was buying very cheap chicken carcass, but again you don't want to kill your clients.
After reading some of the posts about asking where the product is from, I am going to start to try to do this. It will be a learning experience for me.
I have done some reading on the usda site. If there is any follow up at all and they go back to the original seller, that company can be fined, or closed for selling the product.

2011 Feb 21
There have been a few restaurants in town which have been busted for using ungraded eggs. Not quite the same thing (since the chicken was graded as unfit for human consumption), but 'uncertified' food does find it's way onto menus whether you know it or not.

2011 Feb 21
Ungraded eggs could be another matter completely though - that could mean it is a far superior product directly from a small farm

2011 Feb 21
It could mean that, but it could also mean they are unfit for human consumption - you'd never know because they haven't been graded.

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