There have been issues in the past about ginger grown in toxic soil in China. (Google:Chinese ginger toxic). News from a year ago

It is nearly unavoidable to buy products from China. But whenever possible, I avoid it. Ginger root is nice, but you don’t really need it so much you can not find another source or give it up.
Every dollar you give to China improves their economic growth, and makes a confrontation of interests more likely. Plus it probably has some toxic pesticide on it.

Well dammit. The last ginger root I bought was from walmart.

I don’t know about ginger but here in NZ we certainly have Chinese-grown garlic, the supermarket I buy from always states the country of origin when it comes to produce, I always buy NZ-grown garlic. There must be some US grown garlic over there, surely?

~~ Oh no. You can trust the Chinese government. They are nobody’s enemy nor would they sell harmful products.
Actually, I have stopped drinking Apple Juice made from concentrate as most of it is now using apples grown in China. they have absolutely no USDA type of controls over their farming, just as there is no control over poisons used to make much of what they manufacture.

Yes, the US owners who outsourced so much of our manufacturing to China really knew what they were doing.

Yes, I would feel uneasy about produce from China. I don’t ever remember seeing the ginger root in the grocery store produce department having a location on it, but maybe I never looked. How would they stay fresh coming from that far away? Even canned and jarred foods I’m uncomfortable with, but sometimes the more exotic ingredients can only be found in the Asian markets.

With the hummus listeria recall, and the ground beef e.coli recall going on now, I’m glad I’m able to buy most of our foods directly from the local farmers – including ginger root. It’s comforting to look the person who grows or raises your food in the eye, and to see the photos they post on their Facebook and blogs. We do get some produce from grocery stores, like bananas and citrus that can’t be grown locally. I try to get organic in those cases, but it’s not always available.

I buy tons of food from my local Asian market. I’m not glowing in the dark yet.

(Now that some time has passed, I have to ask. What does feeling “sketchy” mean? Ill, concerned, euphoric, energized, apprehensive?)

@gailcalled Rightly or wrongly, in this instance I interpret “sketchy” to mean uncertain. Actually, when I think more about it your suggestion of apprehensive is probably more fitting.

I wouldn’t. No telling what it really is.

Similar to @Seek, I’ve also eaten produce from local Asian markets with no ill effects. I ate the local produce while in China as well and was fine.

@gailcalled Apprehensive fits perfectly :) @Dan_Lyons Don’t forget about the apples from Argentina & Brazil. Who knows why they have to combine those concentrated apples to create Wal Mart apple juice. haha