Remember a couple of weeks ago you couldn't get any tomatoes on your burgers or in the store?
Well American Tomato Farmers remember!
The Salmonella scare brought the growing, packing, shipping, buying and selling of tomato's in North America to a stand still.
Tomato Growers across the country were punished by not being able to sell their tomato's, thus incurring a huge financial blow to their industry.
Many growers complained that the standards set forth by the Dept. of Ag. and safe food handling rules including strict irrigation policies virtually eliminated American tomato growers as being suspect. Yet their crops were also included in the lock down placed on the sales of the crop last month.
Now, it turns out that the source of the Salmonella has been traced to the irrigation water of a Mexican farm.
Globalism isn't working folks!
American Farmers suffered needlessly!
We pay millions of dollars in taxes to finance agencies to protect our health on products that this country produces, and our companies go through the extra effort to be compliant.
Yet, it doesn't take long to figure out that if they move their companies across the borders the same regulations do not apply in other countries.
Countries that we daily import our fruits and vegetables from regularly use pesticides and herbicides that were long ago banned in the US. But we expose ourselves to these chemicals each and everyday when we go to the store and purchase these picture perfect vegetables.
If you have ever had your own backyard garden, some of your vegetables and fruits will do just fine, while others just don't look like they do in the stores. The reason is because there are a lot of little critters out there that will wreak havoc on a backyard garden plot if you don't apply certain things at certain times (whether organic or chemical).
We are daily contributing to bankrupting our own country by allowing these policies brought about through NAFTA to continue.
Strawberries from God knows where in February is wonderful, however, what price are we willing to pay for this luxury.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
11 comments:
Fine, I'm always ready to BUY LOCAL. But how many times do you find LOCAL PRODUCE in our grocery stores?? I don't always have time to ride out to a farm market (and let's face it, the farm market items are NOT always locally grown either!!) Wymzie, what do you suggest????
It was Jalapeño Peppers and you are absolutely right! If nothing else, produce should be required to label where they are grown so we as consumers can have a choice in what we buy.
To try and use this as an attack on free trade (that is, consumers being able to buy their goods from wherever they want without government interference) is ridiculous. There have been plenty of problems with contamination on U.S. farms. What about the spinach contamination from last year? Both Mexican and American farms are susceptible to these problems. It's no reason to call for more government interference in my decision about where I buy my food.
NewGuy,
Your absolutely correct it was 'Serrano' peppers that were the actual culprit. Yet the government shuts down the entire tomato industry.
Most of the fruits and vegetables in the grocery store are labeled and often display the country of origin on the sticker. When I see plums from Chili, or Honeydew from Honduras I don't buy it. Would I like to taste it sure; but I am only contributing to the problem.
During this time of the year it is easy to eat local, as many stores do carry local produce, yet during the winter it is very difficult. Much of our produce is grown in CA and FLA, however, many stores will buy produce from over seas and then it's a matter of not buying it, and then writing letters to the corporate offices.
I realize it sounds inconvenient, but the bright side is that corporations have a scale on which they weigh the written word.
If they receive a phone call they attribute that call to be the opinion of so many people, an email represents the opinion of another amount, but a snail mail letter is given the most amount of credibility and accredited to be representative of far more people than any other form of communication.
So if you go to the trouble of writing a letter and sending it to corporate through the postal service to voice your concerns about an issue with any company, you can rest assured that it will be accomplishing much.
This is a start, and a good one.
Salmonella is probably the least of the issues, as you can rest assured that any of the imported fruits and vegetables have been irradiated, and whatever nutritional value you may think your getting from that pretty mango from Brazil, is assuredly voided out with it's exposure to radioactivity. And I won't even step up on my soapbox on 'Franken' foods.
More Government interference is certainly not what I am suggesting. I believe that as consumers we need to be aware of what is really happening in the food chain.
Yes, there have been outbreaks in our country, but our farmers are held to a much higher standard than the countries from which we import foods.
Free trade is certainly not defined by NAFTA, as long as there are farmers in America being paid not to grow crops because we have to buy a certain amount from another country we are not experiencing free trade. We are getting the short end of the stick here in more ways than one.
Raising trade barriers to foreign produce (or other goods) is indeed increasing government interference in my choices as a consumer. You aren't suggesting that?
If you are only saying that we as consumers need to be educated about what we buy, I agree 100%.
Free Trade implies a Free Market, yet NAFTA is anything but free.
It puts undo strain on our country's business's and little to nothing on those from whom we import products.
A Free Market is completely consumer driven. Not governmentally manipulated.
Self Responsibility and Self Education are the key components in a Free Market.
If we are educated, and we don't buy a certain good, then at some point the supplier will do one of two things:
1) Figure out what it is the consumer wants or
2) go out of business
By all means no more government interference.
No, NAFTA does not give us a perfectly free market, but it does reduce the trade barriers between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The only "strain" it puts on our businesses is that it subjects them to more competition. That's great. Businesses should not be protected from competition due to the government forcing consumers to act in certain ways.
NAFTA is far from perfect, but it should be applauded for giving people more freedom to buy the thiings they desire. Personally, I'd repeal all trade barriers but that's not going to happen any time soon. Deals like NAFTA are as good as we are going to get. If you are against government interference in the market you should support NAFTA while recognizing that it doesn't go far enough.
Type the following in your search bar and you will find the culprit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJg51szIolY
Sorry I don't support NAFTA because it didn't make American business better by being able to trade more freely, instead it made them bail out of the US for all of their needs.
Additionally, it is a Treaty, and a Treaty supersedes our Constitution. I believe in sovereignty of nations and I believe that NAFTA was the paver in the road for the North American Union. Call me cynical but some pretty treasonous stuff has been going on for quite some time and it looks very much like all is coming together for such a place.
As an American it makes me sad, because most folks haven't been paying attention.
you tell them wymzie, im with you girl. theyll see it when its to late.
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