To the Editor,
Re: Cost of market food too dear for shopper, Letters, Aug. 16.
If one is endeavouring to choose food that is the least polluted (organic), has the best nutrition (healthy) and has great taste (freshness), the local farm markets are the best source.
Organic food in retail food stores can be just as expensive – garlic being one example at $5. Taste can be greatly impaired due to shelf and travelling time.
In choosing in-store, non-organic foods, you are at risk of ingesting chemical preservatives, pesticides and genetically engineered components.
Locally-produced food is a much more reliable food source than food transported from other countries. It also supports the local economy.
Does one want to support industrialized farming or the poultry/eggs, pork and beef factories within it – where antibiotics and hormones are used and inhumane treatment of animals is prevalent?
As consumers, we need to support, in whatever way we can, the local farmers who provide us with healthy, nutritious food.
For the alternative is far more costly in the devastation of our health and the natural environment that is essential for sustaining our life.
Gaile Gomerich
Nanaimo