We don’t want to give up fresh healthy produce, especially when summer provides so many wonderful choices, but now we also have the ‘fear factor’ to consider when we shop.
Vegetables we carefully picked and fed our family last night are part of a mass recall today. We can’t remember what country, state or region our vegetables were grown in or transported through. The F.D.A. isn’t sure either. We’re already trying to balance the rising cost of transportation with higher prices for groceries. Now the ‘fear factor’ has moved from our television to our kitchen table.
Locally grown produce should be the solution. Sadly, that’s not always what we find in our local markets, even this time of year. Only our melons, and Mr. Whipple, if you’re old enough to remember him, should complain about feeling squeezed, but today consumers, retailers and growers are feeling bruised from all the squeezing rising prices and uncertain times bring.
Wal-Mart Stores has responded to all our bruises with an amazing new plan. “The world’s largest retailer” has a new title. Wal-Mart has become “the nation’s largest buyer of locally grown fruits and vegetables”. Responding to “academic studies”, Wal-Mart learned they could “save 100,000 gallons of fuel, and cut away 672,000 food miles – the distance produce travels from farm to a customers’ plate”. Famous for “leveraging bulk purchases to keep prices down,” and distributing through shipping centers nation-wide, this change brings them “$1.4 million in annual savings,” and will “also assure customers of a product’s provenance amid mass recalls.”
“Wal-Mart considers locally grown produce anything farmed within a state’s boundaries. Customers will soon see signs, stickers and labels to indicate produce comes from within your state.”
The next time you want the freshest in locally grown fruits and vegetables, head to your nearest Wal-Mart Store. “Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. plans to purchase and sell $400 million of produce grown by local farmers within its state stores this year, an effort the company says will only grow.”
This is a ‘just in time’ solution.
- Nancy
Related Link - http://www.foodsafety.gov/~dms/tomatqa.html
Labels: food for thought, Lifestyle Change, Nancy, Techonolgy
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