Food Chain

Oh yes I have been inspired to write another blog so soon. To my dismay, It has become all too clear that many people do not understand our food chain....and by this I mean the process that our food takes to get to us. So I am going to explain.......

Several times a day while I am stocking ye ole produce I am asked "is this fresh"? Or I hear the comment.."oh just in time for the "fresh" produce. Or.... "do you have anything that is "fresher"?

I am sorry for what I am about to do........

I have to crush your thoughts that your produce you are buying at your grocery store is remotely "fresh".

I know I know.....it is our job as your friendly produce workers to make everything look as "fresh" as we possible can but....alas....it is not as "fresh" as you want it to be!!!!!

 NO matter if the product you are buying is organic or conventionally grown it is at least ....at least 30 days old when you pick it up at the store. ( Caveat.....When stores offer local grown produce it may be "fresher")

Ok a little explanation is required.....we all know that produce is grown on farms.... ( it gets my goat major food makers are advertising "farm fresh veggies" in their products...where else would they come from???) Most of these farms are located in California, Washington, Florida...and several other states so lets follow a specific product.

California grown strawberries.......so these little gems are picked when almost ripe, packed, sent to a distributor...or there may be a couple of distributors before they "land" some where. Here they may be kept several different ways.....some produce is stored in oxygen deprived coolers to slow the ripening process, some are iced, and some are sent through a process to actually ripen.....ok so now a grocery store decides it needs some strawberries so they order them ( usually 2 days before they arrive) then they are received by the store and stay in the cooler until they are ready to be displayed.

Keep in mind I can not say for sure how long this journey takes....very few products actually list when they have been picked so even to us produce workers it is kind of a mystery how long these things have been "off the vine".

Do not forget that there are specific growing seasons for specific items. When a product can not be grown in the US we get it from countries around the world to include....Brazil, Chile, The Netherlands, Mexico and several Asian countries that grow very specific kinds of produce.... so that chain is long and takes much more time and is more expensive.  ( Some people get very frustrated in the middle of January when they can't find strawberries that have been grown in the US...... but January is not a good time anywhere in the US to be growing strawberries!!)

Now when a store is advertising " A new crop of apples" this week it truly is the newest crop of apples....the ones you bought last week were still from the previous year....yes the previous year.

Please don't think I am telling you not to buy wonderful fruits and veggies.......I want you to buy them  and lots of them...they are good for you....but just realize the process behind getting that produce!

In a perfect world we all want to buy stuff that was just picked off the vine this morning...but in reality the only way that will happen is if we do it ourselves!!  But if consumers still demand strawberries in the middle of winter....we will provide them....and people will buy them no matter what the cost. Until we as a country start to reform our habits and eat produce while it is in season... our food will still have a very long road to travel before it hits the grocery store shelf.