A short video on the effects of GMO's.  This video is about Hawaii, but applies to us everywhere.  Please educate yourselves about GMO's and what can happen with our food supply.

Deli

• Cold cuts and less expensive cheeses: U.S.A.
• Prepared salads: Hard to tell because of the number of ingredients.

Seafood

• Shrimp is the most popular seafood eaten in the U.S.A. In 2006, almost all of it came from these five countries (by volume): Thailand, 33%; China, 12%; Indonesia, 10%; Ecuador, 10%; Vietnam, 8%.

Soda Pop

• All American, because pop consists primarily of water and high-fructose corn syrup, and America produces enormous amounts of cheap, high-fructose corn sugar.

Meat

• Beef: 16% is imported from Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand.
• Pork: 6% is imported from Canada and Denmark. (Denmark is a big supplier of baby back ribs.)
• Chicken: No chicken is imported.

Dairy

• Milk, butter, yogurt, eggs: U.S.A.

Juices

• Brazil is the largest suppler of orange juice.
• Apple: Argentina, Chile and China are the leading suppliers.

Pasta

• American, except for pasta imported from Italy.

Coffee and Tea

• Coffee: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Guatemala.
• Tea: Sri Lanka, India, China, Japan, and Kenya.

Bread

• Homemade: 94% of wheat used here is U.S. grown. About 6% comes from Canada and Mexico. The U.S.A. is the world’s largest wheat exporter.

Peanut Butter

• It’s all from U.S.-grown peanuts.

Jellies and Jams

• Both U.S. and foreign-grown fruits, mostly from the European Union. Unless labeled, it’s impossible to know.

Heat-and-Serve

• No way to know. The starches – potatoes, rice, and flour – in them are almost certainly from the U.S.A. The spices and other ingredients could be from anywhere in the world.

Baking Items

• Flour: 94% U.S.A., the rest from Canada and Mexico.
• Sugar: About 50% is from the USA. The rest comes from Brazil, Caribbean countries, and Australia.

Oils

• Corn, soy: U.S.A.
• Canola: (short for Canadian Oil) Canada.
• Olive oil: Read the label. Much oil labeled “bottled in Italy” actually comes from Spain, Greece, Tunisia, and other Mediterranean countries.

Nuts

• Almonds: U.S.A.
• Brazil nuts: Brazil.
• Cashews: India.
• Hazelnuts: U.S.A. and Europe.
• Pistachios: U.S.A.
• Pecans: U.S.A. and Mexico.
• Walnuts: U.S.A.

Wine

• This is one place where coming from overseas is celebrated.
•  

Sources: Food and Drug Administration; U.S. Department of Agriculture; U.S. Apple Commission; American Meat Institute; Phil Lempert; National Association of Wheat Growers; Tea Association of the U.S.A.

HOW MUCH OF OUR FOOD COMES FROM CHINA?

Diane Sawyer's evening news reports this week of Nov. 15 have centered on China, which is now the third largest source of combined U.S. agricultural and seafood imports. Over the past decade China has ramped up its food processing capacity, emerging as a major exporter of a wide range of food products.

According to the USDA's Economic Research Service, last year, two-thirds of Americans' apple juice came from Chinese apple juice concentrate.

In 2009, seafood imports from China accounted for 22 percent of the U.S. total. (Twenty-five percent of whole fish imports and 49 percent of our frozen fish filets.)

China was the second largest source of U.S. preserved vegetable imports in 2007, with a total import share valued at 20 percent.

If you want to understand where your food is coming from, read food labels. Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) is mandatory on retail products including, whole and ground (single ingredient) beef, goat, lamb, chicken and pork, as well as wild and farm-raised fish and shell fish, and nuts including peanuts, pecans, and macadamia nuts.

I took the information for this message from http://www.supermarketguru.com/, an online supermarket news website and radio show. The original source of the statistics is USDA-ERS.

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