During our long, dark winters, BC Hot House produce is really shipped fromMexico

 

Gillian Shaw, Vancouver Sun Published: Wednesday, April 18,2007

When is a BC Hot House tomato not a B.C. tomato? When it's grown inMexico. That little fact annoys consumers like Stephen Hill, who say the company istrading on its B.C. name so that buyers think they are getting homegrownproduce, even though it is actually being shipped thousands of kilometers fromgreenhouses in Mexico. But the B.C. grower-owned company says the Mexican produce is necessary toallow it to continue supplying its retail customers throughout gloomy northernwinters when greenhouse operators here can't produce tomatoes and peppers tofill store shelves. Hill says that's no excuse. "I would suggest that it is immoral, or at the very least they shouldchange the label so it says Mexican Hot House," said Hill, who couldn'tbelieve it when he was alerted to the geographical anomaly by a sharp-eyedsenior at his local produce store. Hill said the person pointed out the fine print under the BC Hot Houselabel, which reads "Produce of Mexico." "If you asked 100 people where BC Hot House produce came from, they'd say,'B.C., you idiot!' and that's what I would have said until I read the fineprint," he said. Maureen Sheehan, senior director of marketing for BC Hot House Foods Inc.,said the company started sourcing tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers from Mexicoand the U.S. to meet demand from retailers and consumers during winter monthswhen B.C. greenhouses are not producing (with the exception of some varietiesof cucumbers). "Consumers and retailers alike want to source products to have year-roundfor their dinner plates," she said. "If you go into a grocery store today, youcan find strawberries in the winter, you can find tomatoes in the winter --this didn't used to be the case." Sheehan said retailers years ago started asking the company, which has 26member growers in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, to help supply themwith greenhouse products throughout the winter. This past winter was the fifthyear BC Hot House has looked south for produce. "In B.C., we don't grow greenhouse products through the winter," she said."It is too dark and too cold and too expensive to grow tomatoes or peppers orreally cucumbers in greenhouses in the winter in B.C. "The main thing is: We don't have enough light." It's also not warm enough, and the cost of heating a vast greenhouse makesthe produce too expensive to compete with southern imports. Sheehan said lessthan 10 per cent of the produce B.C. Hot House sells comes from outside theprovince -- with December, January and February the main months for theimports. She said prices vary, but on average the imported out-of-seasonproduce costs about double what it would be in-season and locally grown. B.C.-grown tomatoes are back on shelves starting at the end of February.You can find B.C.-grown cucumbers year-round, with production stepping up inFebruary. And home-grown peppers arrive about the end of March. The imported produce is grown using the same seed varieties and the samehigh-tech greenhouses that are used in B.C., and Sheehan said they are subjectto the same quality control, food inspection, conditions and policies. Theproduce takes a two-day trip to B.C., landing on store shelves here three orfour days after it is picked. Sheehan said retailers like being able to buy from BC Hot House year-round,dealing with one purchasing desk and knowing that the produce meets BC HotHouse standards. She said the company deals with three pepper growers, twotomato growers and one cucumber grower in Mexico, and additionally will sourceits produce from the U.S. "It wouldn't matter if they were from Mexico, the United States, orTimbuktu," she said. "It is the fact it is difficult to grow vegetables herein the winter, and because it is difficult they have to come from somewhereelse." Hill argues that both BC Hot House and consumers should deal only inseasonal produce and support local growers, not growers in Mexico. "Every person I have told has been horrified and astounded that they havebeen duped," he said. "Whether or not we should be buying tomatoes year-roundis a bigger issue -- we should be returning to seasonal foods." Hill said, along with encouraging jobs here, buying only locally grownproduce is environmentally friendlier than shipping out-of-season produce. "We are damaging the planet by encouraging year-round consumption ofproduce and encouraging the transportation of goods, sometimes thousands ofmiles." Hill said putting the BC Hot House logo on Mexican-grown product ismisleading consumers. "What's our explanation for using the same logo? Is it just to dupe theconsumer?" he asked. Sheehan said the company isn't trying to deceive consumers and it has beenupdating its packaging. "Where we have the BC Hot House logo on our packages, if that product iscoming from Mexico through the winter, then directly under BC Hot House willread 'Produce of Mexico' to make it an easier eye catch," she said.

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