Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Dayton "Dirt" Green Blog - January, 2010

One aspect of gardening that I have been talking about on our radio show “Ready, Set, Grow” on WAKR 1590 AM is the importance of at least supplementing a family’s diet with home-grown fruits and vegetables or at least “locally grown” produce.

The importance of such a maneuver away from entirely “store-bought” food is the fact that much of the food chain is becoming contaminated from foreign sources that do not have the same standards of production and handling of foodstuffs as compared to the U.S. as related to safety and health issues.

No one can argue that fresh produce or fruit out of season must come from some foreign sources; however, non-domestic frozen food and canned foodstuffs are plentiful on grocery store shelves.

As an example, I sometimes purchase “steam-in-the-bag” vegetables for quick preparation and convenience but I accidentally discovered that on the bag was China, Mexico, USA as sources of the contents. When I called the company to inquire if some or all of the contents were from the above sources, the company spokesperson said that in fact the contents contained components from all of these countries and that the company has “full” control of the production process.

I no longer buy this brand of vegetables as I have reasoned that:

1. There is no need import vegetables that are frozen.
2. Imported foods, at least as I perceive it, are more risky to consume because of foreign substandard production and handling methods compared to those in the United States.

A specific example of my concern in item #2 is that the dangerous pesticide Parathion is legal to use on food crops in Mexico but not in the United States. Another of my concerns is the Chinese factor of tainted milk, candies and problems with non-food products such as lead-based paint on children’s toys.

In my seminar two years ago, “American Intensive Gardening”, I presented an efficient way of producing an array of home-grown produce that could be easily frozen or canned to supplement a family’s diet to eliminate or at least greatly reduce the consumption of foreign foods.

I very much resent the food processing companies that procure foreign sources of product when they don’t have to do it. In my view they are more concerned about their short term profits than providing quality domestic sources of canned or frozen foods.

It is wise to read the label on what you’re consuming to discover the listed nutritional content or the country from which it is sourced. Its even wiser to grow and/or purchase locally as many fruits and vegetables as possible although I’m sure there are many in our country that are content to blindly trust that the big food processors would place your family’s health and safety as their first priority.

My very conservative close friend Tom who lives in Toledo, Ohio sarcastically played down my concerns about the safety of imported foods.

I replied that he thought the imported foods were completely safe and healthy then he was free to eat them and prepare them for this family to eat!

I do know that food processors would not intentionally market unhealthy or dangerous products as it would not be in their own best interest. However, with the wider the sources of product, there is more loss of control of production and handling processes.

Frankly, I don’t trust the global food processors to put health and safety of its customers over their own profits, do you?

Tom

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