Tuesday, November 23, 2010

What is the Definition of Local Food?

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Vermont Market

  • The New Oxford American Dictionary defines its 2007 word of the year, “locavore,” as a person who tries to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius.
  • Wal-Mart defines local food as that produced within a State’s borders.
  • Dorothy Lane Market—a small independent supermarket with three gourmet stores in Dayton, OH—considers foods grown or raised within a 250-mile radius of Dayton as local.
  • According to Whole Foods, a “natural” and organic food retailer, products must travel less than a day (7 or fewer hours by car or truck) from farm to store to be designated as local. However, most Whole Foods’ stores have established even shorter maximum distances.
  • According to the definition adopted by the U.S. Congress in the 2008 Food, Conservation, and Energy Act, “locally or regionally produced agricultural food product” can only travel less than 400 miles from its origin, or within the State in which it is produced.
  • Vermont law requires that “local” items originate within 30 miles of the point of sale.

source: Amber Waves