The other day while grocery shopping, I picked up a clove of
garlic from the regular bin. Then, enticed by the new organic
produce display, and wanting to practice what I preach, I picked up
a tidy three-pack of organic garlic bearing the label of a large
local producer.
The other day while grocery shopping, I picked up a clove of garlic from the regular bin. Then, enticed by the new organic produce display, and wanting to practice what I preach, I picked up a tidy three-pack of organic garlic bearing the label of a large local producer.
Great, I thought, our thriving local garlic industry has started to go organic. I didn’t even compare prices.
When I got my groceries home and started putting them away, I snipped the label off the mesh garlic package and happened to notice, in small print on the back: “Product of China.”
Oops.
I’m embarrassed by my failure to read the fine print. Since then, I’ve used the garlic and it tastes fine. But I’m still having a problem with the idea that we had to go all the way to China for organically grown garlic.
You would think organic garlic would be available a little closer to home, like maybe the Garlic Capital of the World? It’s hard to believe that nowhere in Gilroy is there a single grower of organic garlic. Or at least on the same continent somewhere.
When an agricultural product comes from so far away, the produce itself may be organic, but the process of getting it here is anything but. Even if it came on a slow boat from China (sorry) the number of steps involved – the packing, hoisting, repacking, unloading and that long boat ride – mean that a lot of resources, including polluting ones, are used to get the product into our kitchens.
This is not what I had in mind.
I realized that if I had to choose, I would rather buy products grown as close to the point of purchase as possible, even if not organic. This not only reduces the resources used up in getting the product to consumers, but also helps foster the security of the ever-dwindling number of small family farms.
When produce comes from as far away as China, what safeguards are in place to make sure organic procedures have been followed? For home-grown products to be labeled organic, the grower must go through a laborious, bureaucratic certification process.
Is this also true in other countries? Who checks? How often?
I don’t necessarily fault the company that marketed my garlic. I realize they are attempting to respond to increased consumer demand for organic products, and since it can take several years for acreage to return to an organic state, this may have seemed like the most economical alternative – although it does make me wonder if the Garlic Capital of the World is a bit slow on the uptake.
And I’m not necessarily suspicious of Chinese growers. It’s just that, at such a distance, with different regulatory systems and languages and even time zones, how do we know what we’re really getting?
I would rather buy from a local producer, even if not certified organic, than have my organic products come from halfway around the world. I realize we are in a global economy, but I want my garlic (and my carrots, potatoes and onions) pulled from California soil.
