YOUR TEXAS AGRICULTURE MINUTE

Grocers on the front lines of food issues

By Gene Hall

Your friendly retail grocer is sometimes in a tough spot. Food activists have been known to make outlandish requests that sales don’t justify. Protests and boycotts have been threatened. That never fails to get a retailer’s attention. Shoppers, acting on what they’ve been told, ask questions with elusive answers.

The retail grocer is an essential link in the chain that gets your food from the field to the table. Farmers and ranchers care very much about the comfort zone of retailers. The answer is more and better information.

Start with the fact that all the food on America’s grocery store shelves is fundamentally safe, subject to an avalanche of regulations and safety checks. Most foodborne illness occurs as a problem with preparation. When a rare problem does surface, there is a well-tested system of recalls and alerts to deal with it swiftly.

All the production methods–conventional, organic or natural–are as safe as the law can make them. The miracle of it all is the abundance and choice.

The preceding commentary is brought to you by Texas Farm Bureau, the “Voice of Texas Agriculture.” Called “Your Texas Agriculture Minute,” TFB will issue thought-provoking editorials each week—via print and audio—to spark understanding of agriculture in the Lone Star State and its impact on each and every Texan.

You may read this week’s editorial above or listen to the audio version.

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