Good grief.
I just heard a piece on the radio about how Chinese honey is finding it's way to U.S. markets via other countries so they can avoid paying an import tariff. And, as so often seems the case lately, the honey is contaminated. Naturally, this honey is so much less expensive than domestic honey, that suppliers can't resist the temptation to use it. But what are the real costs? Once again, we see how we know the price of everything but the value of nothing.
Not long ago, a friend told us how Chinese tea producers dry the tea leaves by spreading them out on the ground and backing diesel trucks up so the exhaust dries the leaves. Add this to the growing list of contaminated food and pharmaceutical products coming out of China, and it seems to me we'd be better off getting our food and drugs from closer to home. OK. We won't be growing any tea in New England until global warming really gets going, so for now, we buy organic tea.
Make that VERY close to home. Even careless or greedy domestic processors can mess us up as we see with the latest contaminated peanut butter problem.
I believe in a future where so many of the things we need will come from sources closer to home. Our economic and energy problems may force this on us, but I hope we see the day when we understand that life is better that way.
Dipping into the Stream #3
8 years ago
3 comments:
We feel lucky because we have been buying bulk honey harvested locally for years. Not knowing where food comes from or its quality is one of the scary things of our times. That and the global climate change which could ultimately have an impact on our ability to produce our own food. In the future, it's going to be all about water.
Robin Andrea: Folks like you and Roger are inspirations to many of us. I truly hope we all start thinking about food the way you do by eating healthy stuff from local sources that has been lovingly prepared at home and shared with friends. And, I tend to focus on fossil fuel and what will happen when it's gone, but I agree that water is no less a pressing concern.
The more I learn about how food is processed, the more compelled I feel to grow and harvest my own (that I don't buy organically/locally grown). And I'm lucky enough to have a neighbor with beehives who shares his honey at no charge!
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