Where in the World Does Our Food Come From?
Air Date: 7/30/2008

Summer's ripe with all-American bashes from Memorial Day and the Fourth of July through Labor Day. Are the foods we're stocking up on to serve now and all year 'round equally all-American?

Not always. Although many of us try to buy items produced in the US, we may be surprised to find out that some ingredients in those items are imported. If this is a concern of yours, read the labels.

I want to explain to you that, if it wasn't for imported foods, many of our favorites wouldn't be available to us year-round:

At our produce counters, imports allow us the chance to enjoy the cream of the crop when certain favorites aren't in season here. For instance, blueberries grow like wildfire in the States in summer! But in our winter, they come in from Chile where it's summertime.

Bananas, on the other hand, only grow in Latin and South America ? there is no US counterpart.

Our coffee and tea is mostly imported, with Brazil, Columbia and Mexico supplying the coffee, and Asian nations and Africa being the tea source.

As for where that fresh catch was netted or reeled in, some is local or US farm-raised, but the truth is that more than 75% of our fish counter is stocked with imported varieties - again, to give us year-round options.

Of course, some things always hold true to the red, white and blue, like milk, butter, eggs, chicken, potatoes, lettuce, and carrots - they all come to us from US farms.