Farm fresh food is healthier and better than what we get from supermarkets.

Unfortunately there are some major trade offs in the process of getting fruit and vegetables to the massive supermarket distribution centers around the country.

Think about that juicy red tomato, sun rippened and ready to eat, well Mr/Ms juicy red tomato would be a squashed, unhealthy looking tomato at the end of it’s journey to the supermarket shelf.

All those kms of shipping and freight equal time, transportation considerations and shelf life. Fruit and vegetables are often kept in cool rooms and picked green and stored in an artificial/modified environment by manipulating the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide to stop or slow down the rippening process.

Depending on the fruit or vegetable, they can be artificially rippened with sulphur dioxide or other nasty chemicals.

So getting back to Mr/Ms tomato, we end up with this rock hard, whitish red looking tomato that has very little taste.

It’s always better to get fresh fuit and vegeatbles, whether from the actual farm which isn’t always convenient or from the local green grocer where the food chain equals Grower>wholesale market>fruiterer>consumer. A much better option than from the supermarkets Grower>distribution centre>cool room storage>refrigerated semi trailer>supermarket>cool room>refrigerated vegetable display>consumer.

Well for $20 today I picked up a box of freshly picked, sun rippened vegetable. Th best part was the beautiful aroma of farm fresh vegetbles that filled the car.

While the pace of life increases, time constraints have made the supermarket an easy option but with some careful planning there are better options that not only deliver healthier, tastier food but are better for the environment.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 11:26 am by Andrew Talati and is filed under Nutrition.

Tags: Healthy eating, Healthy Food, Organic Food

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