2/25/10

Food Propaganda

I get frustrated when I go food shopping, by what I will kindly refer to as "food propaganda." If you don't spend time reading the labels, you can end up buying something that's not really what you think it is, or where you think it is from. For example, I was looking for some Florida strawberries for my Spinach Salad with Fruit. I found a box of good looking berries (green tops looked fresh, berries looked red and firm), and the brand on the label said "California Berries." First thought was... well, California is a lot further away from me than Florida... then I noticed in tiny print at the bottom of the label "Product of Mexico." I was furious! There were some California Berries blueberries on the next shelf. They were identified, in tiny type, as "Product of Chile." Since when are Mexico and Chile part of California?!?! Needless to say, I didn't buy any berries. Then I went to buy romaine. I want to support USA farmers, so I opted for the non-organic heads marked Product of USA instead of the organic romaine which was Product of Mexico. Why can we not eat raw veggies in Mexico without getting Montezuma's Revenge, but when they are shipped here for us to eat it's ok? By the way, fresh produce is supposed to be marked with the country of origin, often on those annoying little stickers. I've stopped buying fresh ginger root, since I only see "Product of China" on the sticky labels lately. I'd rather substitute organic ground ginger root powder than eat a root grown in China.
Be careful too when buying seafood. A friend told me her sister worked for a salmon company in Alaska and their product was sold frozen at Walmart (not a favorite place of mine). The next time I was there, I found "Wild Caught Alaska Salmon" with the frozen seafood. On the back was small type: "Caught in USA, processed and packaged in China for Walmart." I could hardly believe it. How can we let this happen? The best I can do is protest by not buying it, and I hope you will do the same.

3 comments:

  1. Yes! I've noticed the same thing. I rarely buy seafood in TN because it's so hard to determine the place of origin. Some food items don't even say where they were produced, only where they were packaged. I REFUSE TO KNOWINGLY eat any food produced or packaged in China. We already know that they aren't honest about what they put in their food. I don't even like melamine countertops in my kitchen (although the house did come with them, and I'm coping for the time being; I sure don't want it in my food! And when I hear the "balance of trade speach, I reply, "China may be okay for tchotchkies, but not for anything that may be put in the mouth, like food and children's toys."dal

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  3. Will someone help me to find more details about how to find a way to having an outstanding Flaxseed oil vegetable with omega nutrition dishes ?

    i want to create a awesome "more than reasonable" foods to my gust,
    in most circumstances they not much like natural foods to say the record ,
    so please it require your support
    make me persuade them that health and fitness food can go with the phrase "wonderfully enchanting fulfill diner"






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    ReplyDelete