HFCS mostly China made

[Natalie]

It does take diligence to avoid inferior products and to support our own economy and of course there are items that are hidden like you say but its worth the extra effort to at least try and support our own.
This is one of the reasons why I started growing and raising my own food.
I already raise chickens and haven't bought eggs for two years.
The meat thing is why I started  buying from the butcher, I just ordered a side of beef from him.
You can bring your own homegrown meat for him to slaughter and package as well and its worth it.
If you don't raise your own beef you can have one of the local farms grow one out for you.
I am a vegetarian myself but some of my family members like to eat it so I go the extra mile so that I know where it came from.
Chicken, turkey and beef is really all they eat anyway for meat, we avoid pork.
I grow alot of vegetables that my family enjoys, we eat them fresh all season and I process them for the year like tomato sauce, bruschetta etc. Garlic stores very well.
This was not a good year for gardening with all the rain we had but we still got a ton of tomatoes and potatoes to process and store and the rest of the vegetables we ate fresh.
I go blueberry and strawberry picking and make a year's worth of jam and freeze gallons of berries for the year.
I go apple picking and process and store them in any way I can for the year. I planted over 100 strawberry plants and they just started producing well this year and the apple and peach trees should be producing within the next two years so there is two less things I will  have to buy.
I have a bumper potato crop this year and I have the perfect basement for a root cellar which we set up last year so I have a place to store them.
I just planted my fall garden so hopefully there will be more carrots to put away.

It is possible to know where at least some of your food is coming from if you have even a small area to grow in and a local butcher.

[jimmy]

I have to add to your statement about food coming from China . This past week the shrimpers off the coast of Louisiana had to tie up their boats at the docks because the market in the U.S. had been flooded with the shrimp from China. A few years ago the same happened with imported crawfish here along the gulf coast. There has now been some extra tariffs place on the crawfish. I would think the same tariffs will soon apply to shrimp.
As you probably already know some wholesale importers were caught selling imported China honey as local . If I remember the article correctly the fine they received was much less than the money they had already made on the imported honey.

If you are young and can't speak cantonese ,I would be learning fast.

[David LaFerney]

It is possible to know where at least some of your food is coming from if you have even a small area to grow in and a local butcher.

Or a knife.

I totally agree.  One night last week we had a nice chuck roast with potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and sides of green beans and a fresh salad.  I grew all of it except the beef, and my father in law grew that. I help with taking them to be processed and usually do most of the home veterinary work - especially if it involves a shoulder length glove :-P.  We're far from self sufficient, but we aren't helpless either.

[Natalie]

Sounds like a great meal!!
Jimmy, I will tell you why I stopped buying all fish in the supermarket a long time ago, I wanted scallops but they were all from China.
I didn't buy anything and in fact never bought any seafood from any supermarket again.
We are lucky enough to be able to get fresh fish right off the pier in a nearby town.
One time when I had some firewood delievered we got to talking and it turned out this guy and his family were also fishermen.
We told him how we don't buy the fish in the supermarkets and he said if we wait on the dock for him in the mornings when the boat comes in he will sell us fresh caught fish and much cheaper than the markets charge.
That was a great connection for us to make.
Its true David, you really don't have to be totally self sufficent to make a difference about where you get your food. Just a little helps. I don't exactly own a farm here either but I don't need to buy everything we eat.
Its also a good feeling to be able to take care of yourself and your family in that way.
I never buy frozen processed food so it forces me to try new things, grow new things and be more creative about where I get the food to feed my family.

[Rebel Rose Apiary]

I really like this thread! It started out a little on the scarey side.....but then again most things do in these days and times. I noticed something about the posters....we all are able to take care of ourselves pretty well without relying on the outside world and (possible dangerous) imported items!  :-D

This seems to be a thrend with most of the beekeepers that I have talked with in the past few years. It seems that each and every one of us tries to grow what we eat and keeping the bees near the garden really improves the yields of even a small garden. I keep six hives in the garden year around.

Maybe we should do more in the line of teaching the general comsumers of honey and produce the benfits of buying locally grown/or US grown, etc. produce and honey. Most people seem to be used to the habit of just going to the store and grabbing what all they want off of the shelf and never give it a thought as to where the foods they feed the families and pets originated from.

I just was given some cooking utensils for my birthday a few weeks ago....I used the measuring cups for the first time when I was making some honey sweetened zucchinni bread and pumpkin bread.....the paint they used to mark the sizes of the measuring cups came off on my hands! I checked the box they came in and sure enough, they were from China! I thought about the lead based paint they used on the kid's toys and I am not using the measuring set anymore...it can stay on the shelf for decoration, as I do not want the person who gave me the set mad at me or hurt their feelings.

I am a big fish eater and I love seafood! I cannot stand it that every store sells imported farm raised catfish, imoprted shrimp, etc. I do not buy it.

I think that we need to get the message out to the bee supply companies and to anyone elst for that matter, that we do not want to use or buy imported supplies, etc. If enough of us contacted the supply companies, it would make them take notice...if we keep contacting them, surely they would start offering more US made items.

I am going to start telling the differences of imported supermarket honey and the benefits of LOCAL honey at any talks to shows that I give. I think that even the grade school kids should be told about this. It is never too early to start training our honey buyers and future beekeepers!

Brenda

[beecanbee]

the federal Country Of Origin Law (COOL) exempts so many things from the requirement that it's almost impossible to tell where your food has been....  I wonder how that happened?

Wiki has a good write-up on COOL that gives a bit of the history and mentions the conflicts of interests.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_of_Origin_Labeling

I have shipped a variety of items internationally, and from my experience – the last mile of shipping costs as much as the rest of the journey.  Said differently, the cost of trucking (which is the same cost whether imported or not) is more than the international legs put together.  Thus if the added value (processing of the raw product) labor cost difference is significant, the internationally shipped item becomes cheaper than a locally produced item.  China wages being significantly lower than the US, then ship corn, and re-import corn syrup is entirely achievable.

Grow your own, or buy from a local producer is of course better yet, but if it needs to be processed, you will more than likely be buying imported items, or paying more for domestically produced.