Food Safety: Know Your Farmer
Buying locally grown produce offers you the ability to know exactly how and where your produce was grown. You can ask the local farmer at the farmers’ market or farm stand about how they ensure produce safety, their growing practices, the varieties they choose to grow, and freshness. Or, at the grocery store, simply ask the produce manager. Very often, they are familiar with the farmers who grow and supply their local produce.
Conversely, if there is a need to track the origin of your produce due to a food safety scare, locally grown produce is easier to track to ascertain safety than food that has traveled long distances and passed through more handling steps.
Rutgers University Agricultural Station
In complete compliance with the
Food Safety and Modernization Act