Country of Origin Concerns

[shel]

Originally Posted by Free Rider

Yuma, Arizona

"celebrating the fact that over 90 percent of the country's winter vegetable crops are grown in the Yuma area. "

See link above in which you will find the quote that I cut and paste.


Edited to add another link (http://www.fcssw.com/notebook/BottomLine.pdf) from which I pulled the following quote:

Yuma County has been called the winter vegetable capital of the United States. C.R. Waters, president of the Yuma Fresh Vegetable Association, said the area produces 90 percent of the winter vegetables consumed in the United States and Canada, including 98 percent of the iceberg lettuce.

None of which supports your original statement, which was that "About 90 percent of the US' and Canada's vegetable crop comes from the Yuma area."

Shel

[Cat Man]

Originally Posted by shel

I doubt that 90% of the US and Canadian vegetable crop comes from the Yuma area. Can you support that contention?

You didn't address the questions put forth in the original post: Does it matter to you where your food comes from? Are there certain foods from certain countries that you avoid completely. Are you willing to give up certain fruits and veggies at certain times of the year in favor of buying locally grown seasonal produce? Are you even able to buy locally grown produce in your area?

Shel

Shel
I think he meant the Salinas/Central Valley area of California and it's about 75%. But only Lettuce, Broccolli, Asparagus, Avacados, Garlic and the such. Florida is the number one state for Tomatoes and Green Peppers.
NC for Sweet Potatoes, PA for Mushrooms, WA and MI for Apples, pears etc.
Mexico is definitely chipping away at this market share though.

Cat Man

[Free Rider]

Originally Posted by shel

None of which supports your original statement, which was that "About 90 percent of the US' and Canada's vegetable crop comes from the Yuma area."

Shel

Winter crop, Shel. It supports that statement entirely.

[Free Rider]

Originally Posted by Cat Man

I try to focus on quality, regardless of origin. I'm a fan of supporting local growers whenever possible, but the biggest problem I've run in to is steady supply availablility and reasonable pricing.

An example would be tomatoes. I really like the Florida UglyRipe tomatoes. However, when a flood in NC cuases their tomato price to rise, the Fla farmers immediately jack up their price, even though their actual cost has not changed one bit. Unfortunately I find smaller farmers to have that greed/opportunity mind set, rather than trying to partner with their communities.

Regarding local farmers markets....beware.
In the produce industry, it's called the 'Terminal' business.
This is where elephants go to die, basically.

If you can buy from terminals daily, you'll probably be okay, but generally speaking, produce sold at terminal markets have very little shelf life left. It's a myth that this is the freshest produce around, it's bottom of the barrell product, picked clean, that will be tossed away if not sold within 24-48 hours.

It's one of the biggest rackets in the produce industry (next to short weight packs) and everyone knows it.

On the other hand, if you want the truly ripest tomatoes possible, that's likely the only place you'll find it. I've always felt, if you're not throwing out 15% of your tomatoes upon delivery, they're not ripe enough.

Regarding China-bashing;
I realize it's easy to jump on this bandwagon, but the true facts have yet to come out. Generally speaking, China has some of the cleanest food production facilities in the world. Literally imacculate. I've been to many US plants over the years (Cheese, milk, butter, beef, pork, poultry, lamb, oils, shrimp, clams, wild fish etc) that would pale in comparison to Chinese standards (which have been set by US and global customers).

What you haven't been reading in the latest food scare headlines is that the FDA/USDA inspection levels for dyes, antibiotics, and various other contaminants that are domestically produced, are never tested for any of these banned substances, just the imports.

To put things into perspective, this high and mighty US horse some people are sitting on is made of glass.
76 Million cases of Foodborne illnesses per year in this country, 5000 die.
What makes up the vast majority?
US Produced beef, poultry, produce and seafood.

Vibrio from our Gulf Oysters
Ecoli o157h7 from our cattle
Salmonella from our chicken products
Numerous pathogens from our produce (both organic and commercial grade)
...and on and on and on.

My personal conclusion is that if something provides quality, consistency, and value, I really don't care where it comes from. I am enjoying the world being a smaller place.


Cat Man

You're quite right, Cat Man.

[shel]

Originally Posted by Free Rider

Winter crop, Shel. It supports that statement entirely.

But, my friend, that's not what you originally posted, hence my comments and questions. Originally you made the blanket statement that Yuma provides 90% of the US and Canadian vegetable market, which is not quite the same as 90% of the winter vegetable market.

I'm still skeptical of the figure based on what I see here wrt to vegetables coming from Mexico and Latin America, and the very large amount of winter veggies grown in California.

Shel

[Free Rider]

Have a look at some databases:

ERS/USDA Data - Foreign Agricultural Trade of the United States (FATUS)

United States Department of Agriculture - Agency Reports

[OregonYeti]

I try to buy mostly produce from Oregon, but can't get bananas or chiles from here, so Latin American is good for those.

Although I grew up in India, I avoid canned goods from India in general because you can't rely on their quality at all. Less perishable goods, sometimes, although their packaging is often substandard and they're iffy. Basmati rice from India from sure--there is no substitute and it's always good.

Bananas and pineapples are about the only tropical fruits you can get here that are worth anything. Mangoes, sometimes. I wish I could get really good guavas and papayas, but I gave up on that.

I have never been disappointed with imports from Japan or Thailand.

I agree on the China imports--I avoid them.

[shel]

Originally Posted by OregonYeti

I wish I could get really good guavas and papayas, but I gave up on that.

Hmmm ... we're overrun with papaya here, many of which come from Hawaii. There are several vaieties and sizes available. I'm surprised you can't find them in Oregon. Where in Oregon are you?

BTW, I love good papaya. I sometimes make a breakfast smothie with nice, fresh ripe papaya, some appropriate berries (really nice, ripe, in season strawberries are good), and some fresh-squeezed orange juice, and maybe, if there's aproperly ripened banana, I'll add one as well.

Shel

[OregonYeti]

There are plenty of papayas here, but hardly any that I have liked. I realize there are different kinds. The Hawaiian ones are closer to what I grew up with.

I am in high desert country, central Oregon.

[Ishbel]

I buy organic foods in the main. I buy locally produced fruit and veg in season, and also grow some of my own.

However, the climate in Scotland is not conducive to a varied diet in the long winters - roots veggies and brassicas just about covers what is available! It gets a bit boring after a while - so I have to supplement with veggies from other lands.

Luckily, in the UK, a lot of our imported veg and fruit is from southern European countries, like France, Italy and Spain with some from Israel (although I've never been impressed with the 'taste' of Israeli shipments of Northern European veggies, like potatoes, for instance), potatoes from Egypt. At the moment, I've got some lovely cherries from Turkey in my fridge! Bananas are from the ex-British colonies in the Windward Isles, oranges from southern Europe and from South Africa - another ex-colony where we have long had ties of fruit/veg production for the British market.

I cannot abide frozen veggies, apart from organic petit pois - so I don't know for certain, but seem to recall that they are usually grown in the UK.

Tinned veggies? Well, Italian plum tomatoes (from Italy, I mean, not a type of tomato!) are always available in my store cupboard, along with bottled passata. Oh and tins of ratatouille - simply because, by about Jan or Feb, it is often better than my frozen home-made stuff!

Tinned and frozen foods do not appear to come from places like China, probably because we have Europe on our doorstep. We get lots of things like pickles from Eastern European countries.

[bluezebra]

Hi Catman I would say you are right on with the farmers markets in general. I think you really need to know your suppliers.

My farm stand is actually located right next door to the farm where the veggies are produced, so I'm pretty sure judging from look, feel and smell that the stuff is fresh off the vine, but I sure could be misled, too. :-/

[shel]

Originally Posted by bluezebra

Hi Catman I would say you are right on with the farmers markets in general. I think you really need to know your suppliers.

My farm stand is actually located right next door to the farm where the veggies are produced, so I'm pretty sure judging from look, feel and smell that the stuff is fresh off the vine, but I sure could be misled, too. :-/

My experience is quite different wrt the farmers markets I frequent. Everything is first quality and fresh - fresh - fresh. However, there are more than 160 markets that I know of in the Bay Area, and it's possible some are not very good, don't know all of them. However, the ones I frequent have strong guide lines, are supported by some great local chefs, restaurateurs, and community businesses and organizations, and the vendors all have a long histories of good reputations.

We even have a number of magazines and newsletters that focus on these markets, and word would get around pretty quickly if any vendor is sloughing off poor product. And, of course, the buyers at these markets are pretty sophistaicated - they know good produce and just won't patronize any vendor that's not selling top quality fruits and veggies. Many of the vendors supply the best restaurants in the area, and all are small family run farm operations.

I can assure you and Cat Man that you'd be impressed with the quality at these markets. I'm very fussy, my friends are very fussy, and we're all quite satisfied. Some of us no longer shop at supermarkets, or even natural grocery stores, as they're the ones selling older, more expensive, lower quality produce, a lot of which is not local.

Shel

[shel]

Originally Posted by OregonYeti

I am in high desert country, central Oregon, and I hope you're not taking another shot at me, Shel

I have no idea what you're referring to. When have I ever taken a shot at you?

Shel

[kuan]

I've stopped buying food from China and some from India too. I trust the flours from India. As for the other stuff, it's just not worth it. The soy sauce and the various garam masalas though, that's the big issue. The rest of the stuff I can live without. I just won't use black bean paste in my cooking. There are other great things to eat anyway, no loss to me.

[bluezebra]

shel, you are sooo hugely lucky!!!! san fran markets must be gorgeous and the seafood! I can only fantasize and drool, trust me on that one!

kuan - you get one spanking from me. Naughty! Naughty! I'm now going into the kitchen to throw away my black bean paste and pout for the rest of the day! hmmmph!

Hey shel speaking of San Fran, have you ever been to Brandy Ho's?