Take responsibility for the safety of your food:

Buy Kentucky Proud

 

  Commissioner Richie Farmer

 

The Kentucky Proud movement is more popular than ever. Not since the “inflation gardens” of the 1970s have people shown so much interest in food raised not just in the state but in their local communities. The term “locavore,” used to describe one who actively seeks local food, is part of our language. Farmers’ markets throughout the Commonwealth are enjoying record sales. Retailers are selling millions of dollars worth of Kentucky Proud products; Save-A-Lot just joined the roster of more than 1,300 Kentucky Proud members, and they report that Kentucky products are flying off their store shelves.

 

Retail prices for food from out of state have shot up dramatically in large part because it costs much more to transport food across the country now than it did five years ago or even one year ago. That makes local food more competitive.

 

But what really seems to be driving the growth of local food is the newfound emphasis on food safety. The current salmonella outbreak is in its third month, and the Food and Drug Administration still hasn’t pinned down the source, although it has traced salmonella-positive jalapeno peppers back to Mexico. That followed the massive meat recall last winter and an outbreak of E. coli in spinach in the fall of 2006. More than ever, people want to know where their food came from and what went into producing it. That’s good for the local farmer, but it’s also good for Kentucky families that want and deserve nothing but the safest and most nutritious food.

 

We can never stop being vigilant about the safety of our food. There’s a proposal to ship cooked pork rinds into the country from Brazil, where livestock suffer from foot-and-mouth disease and various swine diseases. I’ve written letters to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Agriculture Secretary Schafer asking them to reconsider letting these products on our shores. It makes no sense to threaten the well-being of Kentucky’s $3 billion livestock and poultry industry with products produced and packaged in a country that has disease problems. It also makes no sense to set strict food safety standards for domestic products – as we should – but accept lower standards for food from overseas.

 

Food safety is everyone’s responsibility. A good place to start is your local farmers’ market or Kentucky Farm Bureau roadside stand or anywhere you see the blue, green and red Kentucky Proud logo.

 

 

For more information about the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's farmers' market program, including a directory of Kentucky farmers' markets, click here.

 

To find out more about Kentucky Proud, click here.

 

For locations of Kentucky Farm Bureau roadside farm markets, click here.