Store Bought Produce
I love the little mini sweet bell peppers that they sell at the store. And, not quite everything is available through my weekly CSA, so I have a package in my fridge. This is my first year on the CSA so I haven’t figured out the whole “Eat Seasonally” thing yet. But, I am working on it.
At any rate, I noticed a few things and I thought I would share. I have been thinking about how amazing it was that the CSA produce was picked, packed and ready for me within literally one or two days — farm to table. Then, I saw this:
Trace me? Oh, ya. I’m on it!
I used my handy, dandy Android QR code app to zap into into the phone. It ended up just taking me to the produce code. Not that exciting. But, me, being the clever investigator that I am, also noticed this:
These peppers were grown in Mexico. Aren’t I observant?
And, there is a company website, http://www.harvestmark.com, where you can enter the produce code and trace your food. Game on. Let’s go for this adventure!
The website let’s you enter the code and then, just like the QR code, tells you what kind of pepper it belongs to and there is also a status line that indicates there have been “No issues reported” for this product. Well, that’s nice. I was hoping to not get poisoned by my food today. Whew. What a relief.
Back to my detective work. I also noted this finding:
Packed on April 23, 2012. Today is May 5, 2012. (Happy Cinco de May, by the way!) I purchased these peppers last Saturday, April 28, 2012.
Does this company expect me to believe that these peppers were PICKED on April 23, 2012, and readily available in my Costco on April 28, 2012? Really?
Picked and packed for my peppers does not mean the same thing.
I wonder how long ago they were PICKED. Like from the pepper plant in Mexico. Hmmmm.
I can’t wait for my CSA to have peppers. I will know where they came from and how they got to me.
At this point, I should admit that I really like this brand of peppers and buy them all of the time. That’s not my complaint. I am just now discovering the whole business of how your food gets to you at the chain store. Yikes. Eye opening.
What do you think?
I think I’m going to check out the local co-op downtown next week. FIELD TRIP! Wanna go?
Fresh Veggies in the Desert 
Its amazing what we find when our eyes are opened. The documentary Food, Inc. changed my life! I am so grateful to have the knowledge to make better choices…thus the CSA journey. Thanks for passing on this important info 🙂
May 6, 2012 at 10:26 pm
That movie is part of how it all started for us, too. Wow.
May 7, 2012 at 1:47 am
hi…and thanks so much for dropping in to my blog! and wow! nevada is sure a long way away from lil’ ol’ england! at least you havent got the incessant rain we’ve been having for the past almost 4 weeks…and this is supposed to May! anyways, nothing new there….it’s engalnd after all…rainy city!
i really love your site…beautifully colourful photos to go with the instructions! we’ve all seen and read many, many blogs with food ideas, but yours is extremely refreshing…well done to you!
i’ll be trying some of your ideas myself, particularly the veggie ones, as half my family are vegetarians, so anything new should go down well.
i did a major trip around most of the usa some years ago…took in georgia, florida, maryland, phoenix, las vegas (how could i leave that out!), seattle and vancouver canada; somehow we managed to miss out nevada and colorado, the 2 i most wanted to see! maybe next time!
May 10, 2012 at 8:00 am
I love vintage cameras. As a matter of fact, I just dropped off a roll of 120 film at my favorite local shop the other day. I have a new-to-me Yashica Mat TLR and this is the test to see if it works! It is in awesome shape so I’m pretty hopeful. p.s. Thanks for dropping by to check out what grows in Northern Nevada. 🙂
May 10, 2012 at 3:14 pm