Shopping in the supermarket, it's easy to forget that all those fruits and veggies aren't brought in by a local Produce Pete but instead have made really long journeys from distant lands.
The influx of products from abroad troubles Food and Water Watch, a non-profit consumer group working for a "safe and wholesome food supply with strong consumer safeguards at the slaughterhouse and processing plant." The group believes many people were unaware of where their food comes from, so it's created an online game called Global Grocer.
Now be warned, Global Grocer is not an intense seat-of-your-pants game like say, Effin' Hail, but it does do a good job of getting its point across.
Here's how the game works:
Going through the aisles of the virtual grocery store, you add products
to your cart. For every product you look at, the game gives you information about how much of it was imported and top
exporters for that type of food, along with other interesting facts.
Say you pick up a jar of pickles. An infograph appears, telling you that
in the past 15 years, pickle imports have increased fivefold, mainly
from India. But because they're a processed food, pickles aren't covered
under the "country of origin" law. You also learn that most apple juice
is imported from China and that many grapes and cherries come from
Chile. When it's time to "check out," a screen
appears with the odds you just bought imported food and the
potential countries of origin.
So? What does it
matter that food is imported? It's not that Food and Water Watch
is against importing food, but the group is concerned that our
government isn't checking these products as closely as it does food
grown in the United States. As you're playing the game, several
statistics keep showing up -- including the frightening fact that only 11,000
inspections were done on 33 billion pounds of imported food. That's
only one inspection per three million pounds!
Also worrisome is a lack of regulation in exporting countries. Elsewhere on its Web site, Food and Water Watch has produced a paper alleging that
"thousands of people worldwide have fallen sick from eating unsafe food
produced in China. Lax inspections abroad and at home mean Chinese food
producers have relied on dangerous additives, fertilizers and
pesticides."
The group isn't saying all these foods should be
banned, but that we just need to do a better job of catching the (warning! pun
ahead) bad apples. Until the government steps up, the consumer needs to
and thus Global Grocer.
Find out how many pounds of food you purchase from abroad and where it comes from here.
(Image via Flickr: WhiskeyBoyTx)
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