30308: charles(correction & clarification) Re: 30285: lyall (comment) confused about rice (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: pgcharles@optonline.net

My reference to Haiti exporting rice to the US was a mistake.

I had heard about Haitian rice being sold in the supermarket from a cousin who lives in Staten Island. I took a trip to Staten Island and went to the store in question. There, I saw two kinds of rice being sold in bags that are deliberately designed to appear as if they were Haitian products - obviously intending to fool an unsuspecting customer.

Mon Chong Loong Trading Co of Maspeth, NY sells rice in a 20 lb white bag with 2 Haitian flags on it and imprinted with the name "Premium Quality Haitian Princess". By all appearances, the rice is from Haiti, however, the fine print says that it is imported from Thailand.

The second kind was not as brazen as it did not mention anything about Haiti. Distributed by Guixens Food Group of Miami, Florida, it carries the name "Madame Gougousse" which happens to be the name of a kind of rice that is grown in Haiti (see http://www.american.edu/TED/haitirice.htm). However, it clearly stated (in large print)  at the bottom of the bag that the product was imported from Thailand.