And the yams are grown in China

When I first moved into this neighbourhood, I was pleased to see that the closest supermarket is a two-minute walk away.  Beyond it (across large parking lot and a busy road) is another, more expensive franchise of a major chain. A few blocks in the other direction (maybe a 20-minute walk) is the supermarket where my son works: run by Italians, and therefore (initially) more interesting to me for its emphasis on Italian products.

photo © Gerda Grice 

But in spite of having three food stores from which to choose, I've become a little paranoid about our food supply in general.

This last summer, I found that perishables purchased at the “downscale” store went bad awfully quickly, so I lowered the thermometer in our fridge. That seemed to help somewhat. But over time my doubts about the produce at the no-frills place – the fruits and vegetables, upon closer examination, were always too ripe, bruised or otherwise damaged – extended to the meat and fish there.

It didn’t help that over the past year or so I’ve come across a variety of articles about the things we eat and drink. Although I’ve avoided most fast-food chains for longer than I can remember, the story about the pink slime (bleached, pureed trimmings) was definitely a stomach-turner. Next came the reports about cellulose in foods – (why yes, I will have another helping of that butterscotch/wood-shavings pudding, thank you!) and how some is OK but we’re eating more of it than we think; and while I don’t drink commercial fruit juices because of the sugar content, my son does and was slightly sickened to learn a few facts about “fresh” orange juice. See links below.

Worse, Son has been telling me about the practices at the store where he works. I had long suspected (from rumours and various Internet reports) that some stores simply change the "packaged on" and "best-by" dates on items. Now I have the proof, even though it's technically hearsay. Alex has related how fish can sit for 5-6 days in a fridge before being brought out, tarted up, and served to customers. All together now: "Staphylococcus aureus!" Nobody I know in their right mind will eat fish that's been sitting around that long. (Yesterday, he told me he’d been instructed to bread and deep-fry fish fillets that, frankly, stank. I saw those fillets in the counter display today.)

Then there’s the butcher department employee who comes in early to repackage (read: re-date) the meats. So for all we know, we're eating stuff that's already a week old and being billed as fresh; we assume freshness, because the butcher section is integrated into the store. We assume quality. We assume know-how and integrity.

We assume wrongly.

Foods that have been defrosted are described to customers as "prepared today."

To make matters worse, the dishonesty extends into other of the store’s departments. The deli staff adds a powdery "filler" to the grated, packaged romano cheese. I glanced scornfully at those small plastic containers today; if I ever need grated parmesan or romano, I know that I’m better off choosing a chunk and asking for it to be grated before my eyes.

And in the pastry department, the luscious-looking cakes (which are not made on-site) are often a week old or more.  

So, all of this leaves me with one last supermarket – the expensive one. I had a chat with the guy at the (beautiful) fish counter last week and he assures me of daily arrivals.

I would like to believe him, but…

Some links to horrify you:

Pink slime in ground beef (and how a Brit rubbed McDonald's nose in it)

Cellulose filler in foods (or, is that enough fiber for ya?) 

How old is that orange juice?

Artful illusion in visual merchandising (The Whole Foods example)