kitchen table politics
Our Local Grocery Store, Where Food Meets Policy By Kathleen Gonzalez
Photo by Carole Topalian
When you walk into the grocery store, food policy is probably not on your mind. But food policy, whether it is federal, state or local, affects which foods you see on the shelves. Policies are simply the rules that govern, in this case, food. These rules can be laws, regulations, or simply, business practices.
Policies are generally enacted to meet some need. Whether that need is to create national organic rules, standardize labels that help us make nutritious food choices, ensure that our meat is fresh and properly processed, guarantee that our food is prepared in a sanitary environment, or cater to a particular clientele.
That wonderful, organic rainbow chard is governed by federal laws that are enforced by our state Department of Agriculture. The label I check to see what is in that box of granola, how many carbs and how much saturated fat, are regulated by the FDA. The grass-fed beef stew meat for my green chile stew is inspected by the USDA. The state Environment Department inspects the deli where I get my locally-produced goat cheese and my fresh organic beet, carrot, ginger juice. And store policies determine if I can find my favorite certified organic, raw vegan, gluten-free, handcrafted coconut-vanilla-almond snackaroons on the shelf.
Generally we go along with the rules and ignore the rule-making process—until we have a need. A good example is the introduction of genetically-modified organisms (GMO) into our food system. Although the manufacturers tell us that these foods are safe, there seem to be a large number of consumers would like to know if the food they are buying contains GMOs.
edible Santa Fe · Spring 2013
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We’ve all heard of the big fight in California, last fall, over a bill to require labels for foods that contain GMO products. The bill was defeated by a fifty-three percent to forty-seven percent margin. The victory was expensive. Corporate interests spent forty-six million dollars
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