by Hollis Wormsby, Jr.
Local Food Production Could Be Key to Healthy Local Economy
In just the past week there have been multiple stories on the liabilities we face in this country because so much of our food is now being imported from China. For those of us who are pet lovers we have heard for years that Chinese made pet treats had killed thousands of American family dogs. This past week the FDA finally acknowledged the truth of these assertions when they announced a ban on all pet treats made in China. Two of the nation’s largest pet store chains announced they had already stopped purchasing pet treats from China as a company policy even before the change.
I read an article last week that stated that 70 percent of the apple juice sold in America is processed in China, a land where arsenic levels are extremely high, but this apple juice is never subjected to American food standards because of some backdoor agreement that our corporate fathers were able to push through. Almost as disturbing in this article were the comments in there about the added preservatives that had to be added to food because of the need for longer shelf life for food processed through our corporate system. According to the article because of the added chemicals, and the need to heat fruit juice to a certain temperature in order to be able to store if for long periods of time, all of the essential minerals are destroyed in the production process. Some are artificially added back in later, but that is a whole ‘nother story. In addition, so much sugar is added to the juices in these processes, that for folks concerned with diabetes a glass of many of these juices is more harmful than soda.
I will share this and then move on. The most amazing thing I discovered when I was following this story is that we are at the point where the American poultry industry, actually wants to slaughter chickens, freeze them whole, send them to China for processing and then ship them back to the U.S. for sale. This so they can make a penny or two more on the dollar.
Corporations focus on profit at the expense of food quality and quality of life in this case. I think there is a simple way to break their backs on this one, we need to go back to locally produced and sold food. There was a time when every town had a butcher, a dairy, local vegetable shops and the like. If orange juice was made locally all we would need would be oranges, squeezing equipment and bottling equipment. And then when you came into my orange juice shop I could give you fresh squeezed orange juice with all the real nutrients and no preservatives. Not only that but I could create local jobs to make our local economy stronger.
As we create these new local businesses, we also need to change our procurement procedures locally to create a market for ourselves. Our local schools could contract to buy all of their juices and vegetables from our locally owned shops, giving them a base market to begin with. Corporations now sell food to our prison system, let’s alter our policies and set it up where our local corporations get priority for providing food and other services to our prisons and even our military.
It only seems impossible because we have been doing it the way we are for so long, but as Gil Scott Heron would say, come on back with me brothers and sisters to a time when. Local businesses mean local jobs. Local jobs mean less crime. Less crime means higher property values. Higher property values mean more revenue for the City. These are all good things and all things that will make this city more attractive to new residents while improving the quality of life for existing residents. Or at least that’s the way I see it.
(Do you have a question or comment on this column? Look me up on Facebook/HollisWormsby or email me at hjwormsby@aol.com)
