FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Beijing duck. Vacuum packed through US customs
Old Sep 8, 2013 | 9:02 am
  #43  
jiejie
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Southeast USA
Programs: various
Posts: 6,710
Originally Posted by uanj
Jiejie, may I respectfully point out that you eat from street vendors in China? From a sanitation point of view, it is very arguable which one would have more health and sanitation issues....

If you declare it upon entering the appropriate Quarantine officer will decide if it is safe, not safe or questionable. If either of the last two, it gets tossed. If the OP is fine with the potential tossing, it's up to him. But do declare it.
Respectfull, baloney. From a sanitation point of view, eating fresh local food cooked on a grill in front of me where I can watch the process and "supervise" the level of cooking and the handling, is far less risky than eating Chinese processed food...or for that matter, certain dishes prepared behind the scenes at upscale restaurants. I'll stand by what I said earlier, Chinese food processing plants are too variable in their quality of preparation and packaging. All the years I spent in China cooking in my own kitchen, I can count on one hand the number of times I ever purchased a Chinese processed food product to take home and use, either as-is or as a component. Seriously. For me it was fresh food only, or buy imported for pantry-type items.

On a different note, a proper Beijing duck roasted in the classic oven and carved at the table--with trimmings--is a sublime pleasure. Relegating a duck to the inside of a vacuum bag is IMO close to an unpardonable sin of the food universe. I'm still trying to come to grips with a planet that puts the magnificent tuna into cans.

I do agree that if the OP insists on traveling with this duck, declaring it is a better strategy than trying to sneak it through. And if the beagles are patrolling around, one is toast. I used to own a beagle--which are noses with fur and legs. Their capabilities are uncanny and in a contest between the USDA Beagle and the Vacuum Duck, my money's on the dog.
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