{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140912202153/http://shea-porter.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/bipartisan-group-of-reps-agree-do-not-import-unsafe-chinese-chicken", "Bipartisan Group of Reps. Agree: Do Not Import Unsafe Chinese Chicken", "2013-12-19", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "NH", "Carol Shea-Porter", "S001170", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\nWASHINGTON, DC \u2014Fourteen bipartisan members of the House of Representatives called on their colleagues to ensure unsafe chicken from China does not make its way to US shelves. Their letter asks that the 2014 Agriculture Department (USDA) funding bill ensure Chinese-processed chicken is kept out of the school lunch and other child nutrition programs. It also asks that the bill prevent poultry slaughtered in China from being exported to the US.\n\u201cConsider the impact of China\u2019s weak enforcement of food safety laws and regulations\u2026\u201d they wrote to the Chairmen and senior Democrats of the subcommittees responsible for funding the USDA. \u201cMore than 300,000 Chinese children fell seriously ill, with some dying, from melamine-tainted milk powder; dangerously high levels of mercury found in Chinese baby formula; the sale of more than $1 million worth of rat and other small mammal meat passed off to consumers as lamb; and more than 16,000 diseased pig carcasses dumped in a river to rot.\n\u201cLast year China Central Television revealed that a Chinese poultry supplier provided Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants with chicken fattened by large quantities of illegal drugs.\u00a0 In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced that, since 2007, pet treats imported from China containing contaminated chicken have killed 600 dogs and cats in the United States, and sickened 3,600 more.\u00a0 According to the World Health Organization, so far 45 of the 136 people who contracted the H7N9 bird flu in China this year have died.\u201d\nThe letter can be read in its entirety here. Numerous advocacy and consumer safety groups support the representatives\u2019 letter, including: Food and Water Watch, Consumer Federation of America, National Farmers Union, Consumers Union and the Center for Foodborne Illness.\n\u00a0\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140912202153/http://shea-porter.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/bipartisan-group-of-reps-agree-do-not-import-unsafe-chinese-chicken"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4960181433707476, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}