The person who wrote this email chose to single out Green Giant as the worst of the worst. I suspect they have some sort of grudge against that company and that they are not any worse than Libby's or Birdseye or a multitude of other companies. I wrote to Libby's and asked about what they imported and they wrote me back very quickly saying:
"Our fruits and vegetables are grown and packed in the USA. It is mandatory that imported from and the country is stamped on the can if anything is imported. Some asparagus may come from Peru but it will be stamped on the can."
Does that mean if we grow apples in the United States and send them to China to be processed into apple juice that they are not considered imported? It is all a little confusing to me still.
I buy a lot of fresh produce and a lot of what I buy comes from Mexico. I read that they are not required to follow the same laws on pesticides that the United States imposes and that is a concern. When given a choice, I choose produce that is grown in the United States.
I like the local farmer's markets, but I cannot rely on them for all the produce I want to buy. I also know I will never be able to grow my own food.
Are we really incapable of producing the food we need to feed our citizens at a price that is reasonable? I hope that is not true.
After writing and posting this, I found an interesting article on this subject which you can see here.
The local produce in Kuwait is sometimes pretty good. However, often the produce is just not grown in good conditions ... and don't even get me started on the livestock! We have a lot of imported fruits and veggies from the US and they are insanely expensive. However, if the quality is good, then I go ahead and buy them. I also only buy imported fish and meat. Unfortunately, this means that most of it is frozen instead of fresh.
ReplyDeleteI actually don't buy canned veggies and fruit anymore, now that I love the fresh stuff, but I never really thought of food being processed anywhere from here, if it was grown here. Interesting!
ReplyDeleteHi Caron! My brother used to work on a canning line for Green Giant in MN. I can assure you that the vegetables were actually from MN, so I don't exactly know where this person got her information. But mine is straight from a Green Giant canning line in MN.
ReplyDelete:-) Marion
I don't up much canned or frozen veggies. I stick with fresh...but I never thought about the products that say they're from another country might not be held to very high regulations...scary. One solution would be to grow. Garden nd freeze your own produce. We are lucky to have family who does this and gives us canned green beans, peaches, etc. someday we will do it too...when we have more time!
ReplyDeleteAustralia is the same. Just about everything is either made in China, or we get frozen veggies and canned veggies and fruit from Asia. Oh and we get cherries from the USA!!! And oranges!!
ReplyDelete