The produce in Argentina is bad. Why?

[TomAtAlki]

yes the produce is shitting and being someone who cooks all the time that's the first thing i've noticed when i started shopping around for produce here in argentina. the reasons are simple, the retailers don't care about providing good customer service and shoppers don't boycott outlets with poor services in favor of better ones. retailers never store their produce properly, leave it out on the sun to rot, almost never cool their premises down to optimal temperatures and just mishandle everything, i saw many times how the verdulero boys squash overflowing boxes with tomatoes with more boxes on top, once things get wilted and half rotten they still push it to customers by mixing with fresher produce, by trying to hide it on the bottom of the bag, etc. This just goes to show how reckless and selfish the industry is and there is nothing you can do, the best thing is to be pushy just like them, go and check every tomato in your grocery bag and replace the ones that are too soft and make a nasty face when you do it, complain and criticize so that they see that you aren't going to pay for their low-quality product. just the other day i had to throw out half a maple (30 units) of eggs once i encountered a rotten egg when i was frying some eggs for breakfast, how did this happen? well, as it turns out they don't have an expiry date or any control on eggs when they sell them in the open and they keep them there until they all sell and mine was an old batch probably mixed with even an older unsold batch, so i went there and told the lady about my rotten eggs and how i want better quality and she laughed at me and told me that if i don't like her store then i should go elsewhere! talk about customer service. at another grocery store, the owner didn't let me replace the wilted carrots because he said that all the carrots are the same and he got angry with me, so i left the carrots on his counter and told him that i will never be back, he told me: "anda..." i could hear his employees laughing while i was walking away, can you call this customer service? in the matter of fact the only decent produce i found was at a local china where there is one lady with a tiny stand, she charges more but she has a fridge where she keeps some of the vegies and the temperature inside the building is always cool enough, that's where i shop now.

In life there are good, medium and bad people, vegetable stores, super markets, etc. Pick the good ones.

T/

 

[jantango]

Article published 2/11/2019 by InfoBA:

A few years ago, a report by the National Service for Agrifood Health and Quality (SENASA) set off the alarm. Almost 98% of the pear items offered between 2011 and 2013 in the Central Market of Buenos Aires and its counterparts in La Plata and General Pueyrredón had tested positive in 20 varieties of insecticides and fungicides.

More than 90% of the samples of celery monitored in those same spots showed remains of 16 agrochemicals and in the case of tangerines, they showed remnants of another 16 pesticides.

85% of the apples revealed the presence of 22 types of insecticides, fungicides and acaricides. 76.6% of strawberry samples showed traces of 17 pesticides. Of a total of 27 fruits, vegetables and similar productions surveyed, only four varieties gave zero in contamination: onion, sweet potato, yerba mate and almonds.

On the other hand, records of the operations carried out in 2016 showed that 65.4% of the celery consignments contained concentrations of insecticides and fungicides above the MRLs (Maximum Residue Limits) set by the regulations in force in Argentina for this type of food. Only in this product was the presence of 21 agrochemicals, including the insecticide endosulfan, forbidden use in Argentina since mid-2013. In the carrot, 62.5% of the samples analyzed gave a similar result: six active ingredients , divided between insecticides and fungicides.

The scenario is already alarming and the technicians of the Central Market laboratories maintain that in the last two years the findings of substances unfit for human consumption increased by 5%, in a trend that became increasing.

The situation is even more serious if we consider that several million tons of fruits and vegetables that are sold in grocers throughout the country come directly from the garden without going through Central Market controls or any other type of laboratory. Poison direct from the land to the table, without losses or seizures.

It is hard but it must be said: we are in emergency. National and provincial agencies that coordinate health and environmental policies must urgently improve and articulate emergency mechanisms that guarantee food and environmental security for Argentines.

The best source for organic produce is Tallo Verde. The weekend ferias organicas return in March!!!!!!

 

[Jerbo]

Has anyone heard anything about the return of these organic ferias? It seems like they have been on vacation an awfully long time.

 

[Aztangogirl]

Sorry,I cant agree. I find the produce here fantastic. The melons and cherry have been great this summer. I buy fresh produce every other day. I love the Chris and fruit here.

 

[sergio]

https://sputniknews.com/latam/201608031043907667-glyphosate-carcinogenicity-argentina/

The rates of cancer due to the toxic use of pesticides and other chemicals in the production of food products is criminal . The rates of cancer and other serious diseases close to the spraying fields is up to 20 times higher than normal levels . This is a crime against humanity

 

[sergio]

yes the produce is shitting and being someone who cooks all the time that's the first thing i've noticed when i started shopping around for produce here in argentina. the reasons are simple, the retailers don't care about providing good customer service and shoppers don't boycott outlets with poor services in favor of better ones. retailers never store their produce properly, leave it out on the sun to rot, almost never cool their premises down to optimal temperatures and just mishandle everything, i saw many times how the verdulero boys squash overflowing boxes with tomatoes with more boxes on top, once things get wilted and half rotten they still push it to customers by mixing with fresher produce, by trying to hide it on the bottom of the bag, etc. This just goes to show how reckless and selfish the industry is and there is nothing you can do, the best thing is to be pushy just like them, go and check every tomato in your grocery bag and replace the ones that are too soft and make a nasty face when you do it, complain and criticize so that they see that you aren't going to pay for their low-quality product. just the other day i had to throw out half a maple (30 units) of eggs once i encountered a rotten egg when i was frying some eggs for breakfast, how did this happen? well, as it turns out they don't have an expiry date or any control on eggs when they sell them in the open and they keep them there until they all sell and mine was an old batch probably mixed with even an older unsold batch, so i went there and told the lady about my rotten eggs and how i want better quality and she laughed at me and told me that if i don't like her store then i should go elsewhere! talk about customer service. at another grocery store, the owner didn't let me replace the wilted carrots because he said that all the carrots are the same and he got angry with me, so i left the carrots on his counter and told him that i will never be back, he told me: "anda..." i could hear his employees laughing while i was walking away, can you call this customer service? in the matter of fact the only decent produce i found was at a local china where there is one lady with a tiny stand, she charges more but she has a fridge where she keeps some of the vegies and the temperature inside the building is always cool enough, that's where i shop now.

This is all very true and you have captured perfectly the attitude of a lot of people when you quote the merchant who said "anda". It's the way a lot of Porteños are and it's very irritating to foreigners who are used to better service and quality. I buy some things from the small greengrocers but I hate the way they want to pick the items for me. At least in the supermarket I can select what I want even though quality isn't so great. Quality control is poor in Argentina but sellers want top dollar. You can complain but until a lot more people start complaining and boycotting shops it won't make any difference. That's how things are and you have to live with it.






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[Fiscal]

Paid 100 pesos for a box of Driscoll-branded blueberries. Fair price?

 

[Ries]

Paid 100 pesos for a box of Driscoll-branded blueberries. Fair price?

bad choice. buy organic, small producer fruits and vegetables, not "brand names" you will get better food, healthier, and often, the same price or less.
Driscolls is a US based multinational AG corporation. Most likely your variety of blueberry was chosen not for flavor, but for the ability to not spoil while being shipped and stored for a long time. This is common with commercial fruits. Driscolls sold here would most likely be grown in Chile, then shipped here. I get locally grown ones, fresher and tastier, at local organic markets like Mercado Bonpland, in season.
In the USA, I have over 200 linear feet of blueberry bushes, in 3 different varieties that are much tastier than Driscolls. I pick them and freeze them and eat them year round.

 

[Sockhopper]

After the total of 6 months I spent in BA as a Canadian visitor, I retired to France where I eat only the freshest and best fruit and veg of France, Italy and Spain because this is all that's available to buy. In my estimation, Argentine produce is far superior to the rubbish and rot I had to buy in Canada and felt embarrassed to buy there -as though I must be a peasant to have had to settle for it! (Even our garlic was imported from China.) Every 2-3 years there, some veg was withdrawn from store shelves for months at a time because it was poisonous, deadly on account of contaminated soil in the country it was grown and harvested.

BA restaurants at all price levels serve vegetables that they cook on the premises whereas Canadian ones couldn't be bothered to and wondered why I even cared to know which vegetable was being served with a main dish! So I began to save our weekly dining-out budget year 'round to eat out instead in BA wherever I wanted at all price levels,

I rank Arg produce almost as high as France's, except that fruit in France has way more flavour, types and and varieties than what's sold or even known in either Arg and Canada;. Tomatoes around the Mediterranean are very flavourful but become a little less so from December to February.

But the food I miss most by not being in Arg are Andean potatoes. Oh, to eat those again! I'll probably never have another chance to be served anywhere again the very rare Patagonian mushroom that I was lucky enough to be served once in BA by the chef at "Les Anciennes Cobattantes". I'm sorry that it closed down about 4 years ago.

 

[Iri]

https://livelovefruit.com/glyphosat...RkrJklIKSZsJxJTT1fzIhoLhJUxDEomePx3Q0yxrMrB8U

For a few months, my local fruit & vegetable stand owner gives me all the produce I want without charge. I explained to her the difference between organic and regular produce. I try to limit what I accept from her, preferring to buy organic even though it costs more. I don't care. I don't want to eat food with Monsanto chemicals. It doesn't wash off. The chemicals stay in your body. I finally learned about organic a few years ago and buy it when it's available. The feria organica is closed for vacation in January, so I have to wait until February to buy from Tallo Verde. She gave me some kale today, which she doesn't sell to her customers. I make a salad everyday with it, but I'll go back to eating organic next month. I spend 600-800 pesos on organic produce in one day that lasts a week.

Hi Jantango! If I may ask, is this your entire weekly food budget or is it just organic food you buy in addition to non-organic? If you eat only organic on this budget where do you go grocery shopping? And, about the weekend ferias mentioned here, are they cheaper than mercado El Galpon and mercado Bonpland?

I was at the address of feria verde de San Telmo at Peru 667 after the holidays just to find them closed, and if I remember correctly it was on their working day. Is it for sure that the feria reopened? Also, if you know, which of the weekend ferias is the most affordable and has not only fresh fruit and veggies but things like organic rice, dried legumes like garbanzo beans, lentils, peas etc. and organic olive or coconut oil?