Eat local

Now that the pet food contamination scare has spread to the human food supply, the Organic Consumers Association has some excellent reasons, besides all the global warming stuff, to buy and eat local: you may be eating contaminated food.

• Each year, the average American consumes 260 pounds of imported food.
• 98.7% of foods imported into the U.S. are NOT inspected by the FDA for safety.
• Of the scant 1.3% of imported foods the FDA tests, over 200 shipments of grains, fish, vegetables, nuts, spice, oils and other imported foods are detained each month for issues ranging from filth to unsafe food coloring to contamination with pesticides to salmonella. The other 98.7% of untested food is immediately green-lighted for the American diet.
• The U.S. imports almost twice as much food today as it did just ten years ago, yet the FDA’s budget for testing imports has been cut nearly in half since 2000.

I’m not down to the 100-mile diet by any means, but it’s a great goal to work toward. Oh, and here are 13 more reasons to eat local. Here’s how to get started.