By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON – The No. 2 official at the Agriculture Department recently got a real-life lesson in the loose definition of the trendiest word in groceries: “local.”
Walking into her neighborhood grocery store in Washington, Kathleen Merrigan saw a beautiful display of plump strawberries and a sign that said they were local produce. But the package itself said they were grown in California, well over 2,000 miles away.
The popularity of locally grown food – which many assume means the food is fresher, made with fewer chemicals and grown by smaller, less corporate farms – has led to an explosion in the use of the word “local” in food marketing. It’s the latest big thing after the surge in food marketed as “organic,” another subject of continuing labeling controversy.