Organic Food - Local Assumption

Local foods can be organic, but organic foods don’t always mean local. What’d she say? A new study by an Ohio State food policy professor observes that the “local” label can’t always be applied to the organic foods found at your grocery supermarket. In fact, he say that “more and more organic food producers and processors are becoming like their conventional counterparts, and if the trend continues, more and more organic food won’t be local”. Just how does this work, and how did it happen? Professor Hooker explains that the organic food market is growing, which is good, but that the majority of organic growers are clustered on the coasts. If larger agribusiness are buying organic foods from local producers, and are then shipping those under an organic label to consumers in other states, then that negates the notion of “local foods”. Bottom line, organic doesn't necessarily mean local, which in and of itself isn’t a “bad thing”. Hooker says he isn’t criticizing, he’s just trying to point out that if you’re buying organic food and think that automatically makes it local, you need to be aware that that isn’t necessarily so. Sounds like an opening for a whole new set of food labeling issues.