Do You Know Where Your Food Comes From?

Food safety, two words you probably don’t think much about, but I hope you do after this blog.  This year my family is increasing the area of our organic garden with the hope that we will be able to stock away enough produce to enjoy through the winter months.

We’ll also be getting chickens.  Yes, chickens as we want access to organic eggs as well.

Did you know 1 in 6 of us gets sick from eating contaminated food each year?  According to the Center for Disease Control, that’s 48 million of us and that’s crazy talk to me.  I want to know where my food is coming from and you should too.

This is the first time ever that the USDA is letting chickens we raise and slaughter in the US be sent to China for processing then sent back to us for consumption.  That doesn’t sound appealing at all.  Especially since China recently had to recall thousands of pounds of pet food processed in that country and sent to us.  It killed thousands of our animals and made thousands more super sick.  Let’s also mention the melamine laced baby formula they produced that killed several infants and made thousands of others very sick.

The scary part is that the Food and Drug Administration is only inspecting a small portion of the food that is imported from China.  According to the Food and Water Watch, between June 2009 and June 2010 the FDA conducted only 13 inspections total.  That’s a small fraction compared to what is actually imported.  Plus, we don’t require labeling of food that is imported from other countries.  Yikes!  I don’t know about you, but I want to know where my food is coming from.  This chicken could end up in our school lunches as well as the lunchmeat at our local grocery stores.

In 2014 I have switched my family to organic, locally sourced food products including beef, poultry, vegetables and fruits.  What I can’t produce in my yard, I will buy local.  Not only am I helping reduce the carbon footprint of bringing out of state products to our grocery stores, I’m also supporting the local economy.  A lot of our local grocery stores and restaurants source local products as well.  Just click here for a local resource to find producers here in Idaho.  Please, for your family's health, keep asking questions and doing research. Together we can affect change one fork at a time!

Make it a healthy day!

Lisa