Republican Wants to Ban Garlic From China Over ‘Sewage’ Concern

Senator Rick Scott has introduced new legislation requesting that the United States ban “sewage garlic” being shipped into the country from China.

The Republican from Florida has referred to garlic imports from the People’s Republic of China as a national security risk, first raising alarm to the issue to the Department of Commerce on December 6 due to reports that such garlic “is being grown in human sewage, then bleached and harvested in abhorrent conditions often with slave labor.”

The bill, as designed, would prohibit all garlic imports, whether fresh, peeled, frozen, dried, dehydrated, toasted, roasted, packaged, in the form of an essential oil, or otherwise processed.

In 2018, the United States imported about 199 million pounds of fresh garlic and 155 million pounds of dried garlic, according to United Nations Comtrade data. China is the United States’ biggest garlic supplier, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

Numbers drastically tailed off starting in 2018, showing a 115-million-pound decrease compared to 2016, falling to about 50 million pounds two years after important totaled about 165 million pounds.

“Communist China produces the majority of the world’s garlic, and we can’t be sure that it’s safe,” Scott said in a statement on Tuesday. “We already know Communist China has a proven track record of producing unsafe goods and that we can’t trust its food to be safe for our families. This is especially true for garlic grown in Communist China.”

Scott added: “Reports indicate Chinese garlic is grown using raw sewage—possibly including human feces—and that the garlic is then bleached to make it appear whiter and cleaner to the eye after its growth in unsanitary conditions. Not to mention, Communist China does all this using slave labor. It’s horrific and means that Chinese Sewage Garlic shouldn’t be acceptable for human consumption until we can be absolutely positive that it’s safe and up to our standards.”

A 2017 piece published by Quebec-based McGill University stated that “there is no evidence that garlic in China is fertilized in this fashion.” Even if it was or is, it argues that human waste is as effective a fertilizer as is animal waste.

“Spreading human sewage on fields that grow crops doesn’t sound appealing, but it is safer than you might think,” the piece from McGill reads. “Urine is normally free from the pathogens that cause diseases, while soils help to filter and clean bacteria found in feces. Actually, the skin on garlic is effective at preventing penetration into the bulb…Sewage is not simply waste to be disposed of as fast as possible, but a valuable resource.”

On December 6, Scott wrote a letter to U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo, requesting an investigation into all Chinese-imported garlic as authorized within the Trade Expansion Act. He said this has been an issue dating back to 1994, affecting not only health but economic prosperity.

“Commerce, in its investigation, must consider the impacts of foreign competition on the domestic industry and the effects on the displacement of domestic products, including: unemployment, decreases in public revenue, loss of investment, and other relevant factors causing or that will cause a weakening in the national economy,” Scott wrote.

Two weeks later, on December 18, Scott wrote a letter to the National Grocers Association (NGA), imploring American grocery stores to act even if the federal government does not.

“Until the federal government can put strong standards into effect and our government holds Communist China accountable, so it is able to verify the safety of these goods for American consumption, I urge you to act to protect your customers,” Scott wrote to NGA President and CEO Greg Ferrara. “

Take Chinese-grown garlic off your shelves to reduce risk to your customers, and send a message to the families that you serve that you will only sell products you trust and know are safe for their consumption.”

Newsweek reached out to Rick Scott, the Commerce Department and the NGA via email for comment.

Chinese star-run newspaper China Daily mocked Scott for his introduced legislation, saying the senator is trying to score political points by making public health claims not rooted in fact.

“The career politician, who frames himself as a protector of U.S. business and local jobs on his personal webpage, called for barring Chinese-grown garlic from the US market,” an article in the paper published December 18 said. “The message was relayed on Chinese social media by users in a sarcastic tone, who believed it was the latest example of China scaremongering by die-hard anti-China politicians in the US seeking to profit from worsening bilateral ties.”