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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Getting food from its source to your table is a very complicated undertaking. Megan Konar, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, estimated that there are 9.5 million links in today’s food supply chain. As a consumer, you rely on distant growers, agricultural processing plants, food storage facilities like grain silos, grocery store chains, and food transportation systems.
California receives and ships more food than any other location in the country. This makes sense because it is a fertile growing region, it is geographically an enormous area, and it has a vast coastline to receive food from other areas of the world. Environmental disruptions such as wildfires, earthquakes or climate cycles like a widespread drought, can affect the internal movement of food within the state and this ultimately ripples across the food supply chain for the entire country.
The food supply chain relies on a complex web of interconnected infrastructure. Heavy winter snows can halt trucking on major interstates or stop rail traffic. Flooding can wash out bridges or flood tunnels. Much of the grain from the Midwest is transported to the Port of New Orleans to be exported around the world. The grain travels down the Ohio to the Mississippi River. Functional infrastructure along these waterways is critical to efficient transport.
A number of locks – most especially locks 52 and 53 – were originally constructed in 1929 and have become unreliable. These locks are near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers where tons of corn, grain and other food products move along annually. The river system is the flywheel driving the agricultural industry in the US. Barge traffic was backing up at this juncture with the aging locks taking as long as 72 hours to raise the water level and lock through. The Army Corp of Engineers is working to replace these locks which won’t be totally functional until 2022 but movement through the newer structures is already beginning.
If you are shopping in a farmers market you can assume that the farmer didn’t drive 3 days to bring you watermelons and other fresh produce. If, however, you live in Maine, you can safely assume that the watermelon you are eating in December was not grown by a farmer down the road. To rely on a local food supply, you would need to eat only those foods available in your region during that season. But we have become so accustomed to a wide variety of food year round that few people opt for a totally local food supply.
Most of the fresh foods in the US are trucked to your store. Within the US, very light perishable items, like herbs may be shipped air freight, but little else is. In a large supermarket chain, the trip for a head of broccoli from the field to your table could take a week to 10 days. The voyage would go something like this – field, local warehouse, regional distribution center, refrigerated truck, supermarket chain distribution center, second truck, local supermarket backroom storage area, the produce counter, and finally your dinner table. The broccoli you are eating tonight could be a seasoned traveler! And, think of the voyage taken by kiwis from New Zealand, oranges from Israel, or berries from South America.
© NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of 30 books.
Available as eBooks from iTunes and Kindle/Amazon:
Diabetes Counter – the most up-to-date information on managing diabetes
Calorie Counter – a weight loss guide that won’t let you down
Protein Counter – put the latest protein recommendations to work for you
Healthy Wholefoods Counter – planet-friendly eating made easy
Complete Food Counter – food counts and nutrition information at your fingertips
Fat and Cholesterol Counter – newest approach to heart-healthy eating
Available in print from Gallery Books:
Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd Ed.
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com