Integrity in Industrial Food? See my picture and decide…
So I was doing my normal frantic shopping at Costco, looking for a good veggie and lamenting that I didn’t get to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. I decided to go with asparagus, slightly saddened that it was one of the better nutrient sources, but if I had to be honest, not a seasonal choice (asparagus doesn’t grow in 110 degree weather, go figure). Just to make matters worse, I thought I’d read the label to assure myself that indeed this bag of delicious little green stems was, in fact, from Mexico. It was. Not to disparage my amigos, I decided I might as well look at the date to make certain I was at least getting the freshest greens. GOOD-BYE Farmers Market, hello industrial food chain! These, ladies and gentlemen, are the freshest veggies I’ve ever purchased…. they were actually picked in the FUTURE. That’s right, I can actually eat asparagus that is so fresh, it hasn’t even been picked yet! I guess Dole finally figured out that flux capacitor thing…
5 Responses to “Integrity in Industrial Food? See my picture and decide…”
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Love this tool…
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The post brings out a laughable moment in product packaging. I submit this “slip up” could have just as easily occurred at the farmer’s market. Both the farmer’s market and the industrial food chain rely on human input. Humans make mistakes, errors, and forget things regularly. For example, what did you eat for breakfast last Tuesday morning? Or have you ever written the wrong date on a check?
I believe the question is aimed at determining if industrial farming is good for consumers or not. Industrial farming is a term used to describe commercial farming practices used on today’s modern farm. While some farms are run by corporate entities many are still family run operations. Modern farming practices have increased crop yield at a time when human demand has grown at an exponential rate. In order to meet the increasing demand, these practices use chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Use of these items is the principle complaint from modern consumers concerned about the integrity of their food supply. While is share the concern with exposure to various chemicals, without their use we would experience food shortages on a global scale. For the consumer who wishes, they have access to purchase organically grown products at a higher price. For the rest of the world, long term concerns about chemical use are dwarfed by the immediate need for sustenance.
Farmers are often targeted due to the use of these chemical means of farming. However, it is often overlooked that farmers are the world’s foremost conservationists. A farmer’s livelihood is directly linked to the sustainable use of the farmland they grow their corps on. If they abuse chemicals, the land they rely on will be damaged.
Awesome! My kind of attitude lol Human error. That is true Eric, you have to look at the negatives and positives for each outcome. There is a fine line between corporating a farm and keeping it true to its original concept. For example, in third world countries where the main thought running through a persons mind is where will i get my next plate of food to survive, the last thought running through their head is where did this food come from. So in a sense, there must be a balance in which the food is organically grown locally and distributed to the local population. Perhaps, teaching the locals how to grow a garden, donate tools, and books on how to grow crops. This might be a solution. A smart farmer will not use chemicals that will harm the soil, thus the farmer may risk losing next years crops. The world population will soon reach 8b, so a plan of action must be taken soon to alleviate this potential problem.
I find this post to be very humorous as well. First and foremost,it was clearly an error in the packaging process. Mistakes happen all the time is food processing. I believe that the farmer has so many rules and regulations to follow in making sure that the produce is fresh that often errors like this occur. At the beginning of the summer, our company was harvesting and packaging asparagus. These products get shipped all over the United States. I assume that this would be considered part of the Industrial Food Chain. Although this asparagus may not get sold at Costco, I’m sure that there are minor errors such as the one that you experienced. If only our asparagus could be as fresh as Doles!
Yes I to find this posting funny!
I wish I could buy produce that fresh everday. It just shows how humans are far from being perfect!
I thought some countries always refer to the day of the month before the month. For instance they would right 31-8-12 instead of 8-31-12 like we would here in the US. Is this just my imagination? I think either way, the date is concerning as long as your a consumer in US market. I think there will always be mistakes in any industry, food or otherwise. Everyone must take a little extra time to double check things like this.